LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




GOD IN BUSINESS 



H. J. LATHAM 






PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND 




THE CUTS ARE USED BY PERMISSION OF THE CHRISTIAN HERALD 






The Library 
of Congress 

washington 



Copyright, 1C87, 
Bt H.. J. LATHAM 



[All rights reserved ^. 



NEW YORK: 

The Trade Supplied by 

THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY. 

1889. 



PEEFACE. 



' ''Fear thou not, for I am with, thee. Be not dismayed 
for I am thy God. I will strengtlien thee / yea, I will 
help thee. ' ' 

Does God assist us in our temporal affairs ? 

Generally the answer to this question is " No. v The 
comments are various. 

" God helps those who help themselves." 

It is the experience of many that God helps those who 
cannot help themselves. 

" I've never seen any divine help." 

Many men receive God's help, but thank themselves 
for their own shrewdness 

" Is not this great Babylon that / have built ?" 

" Nothing ensures success but energy." 

A young man commences business with this idea. To 
his surprise he meets men as energetic as himself. Then 
comes the clash. Energy against energy. Smartness 
against smartness. Prices are cut until the expenses ex- 
ceed the income, and the young man fails. He starts 
again. Fails again. In thirty years he is either packing 
goods for one of his former clerks, or has retired on a 
fortune of fifty thousand dollars which belongs to his 
creditors. 

To succeed by failing is not enviable success. 

In God's sight no man is successful in business until 
he has paid one hundred cents on the dollar. 

The mercantile agencies report that ninety-five per 
cent of all business men fail. 



In the course of an agricultural address delivered in 
1840 General Dearborn, who was for twenty years Col- 
lector of the Port of Boston, said : " After an extensive 
acquaintance with business men I am satisfied that among 
one hundred merchants not more than three ever acquire 
a competency." These are startling facts. 

The following communication appeared in the Farmers' 
Library: "The statement made by General Dearborn 
I found to be true. A friend told me that in 1800 he 
made a list of the persons on Long "Wharf. In 1840 
only five in one hundred remained. They had all in 
that time failed, or died destitute of property. I then 
went to one of the directors of the Union Bank. He 
told me that the bank commenced business in 1798. A 
year ago in looking back over their books they found 
that of the one thousand accounts with which the bank 
started only six remained. Said the director, ' Bank- 
ruptcy is like death, and almost as certain. He is a for- 
tunate man who fails young.' " 

According to Bradstreet the business failures in the 
United States for 1888 were 10,587. Assets (in round 
numbers), $61,000,000. Liabilities, $120,000,000. 

Why do men fail ? 

Because they do not take God into their business. 

Energy is, of course, necessary to success, but it does 
not guarantee success. If a man expects to succeed 
honorably he needs something besides his unaided energy. 

He needs the help of the Almighty God. 

" Christians sometimes fail." 

Not often. Look over the published list of failures 
every morning. How many men in that list honor God 
in their business, and give him his share of the profits ? 

Not one in five hundred. Sterling Christians seldom 
fail. 

" If God helps, a Christian should never fail." 

That does not follow. A man in his frantic efforts to 
get rich may engage in risky speculations. He may 
drive his business so near the edge of his capital that the 



slightest jar will tip him over the precipice. He may 
neglect his business. 

As a rule, however, Christians do not fail. 

When a young man starts in business determined to 
serve God it is safe to say of him, " He will succeed." 

" There is no difference. ' He maketh his sun to rise on the 
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the 
unjust.' " 

The ordinary blessings of life is not the subject under 
consideration. Special help is the subject. This is not 
at the command of the ungodly : 

" They shall call upon me, but 1 will not answer." 

" A prominent New York business man claimed to have 
God's help, but he was implicated in Custom House under- 
valuations." 

God renders no help to a person engaged in question- 
able transactions. If this man was actually dishonest 
then his claim was false. 

" Every Christian does not get rich." 

Every Christian does get rich. Immeasurably, incal- 
culably rich. Rich in the love and benediction of the 
Father ; rich in the fellowship of the Son ; rich in the 
light and comfort of the Holy Eternal Spirit. Rich in 
the assurance of an immortality with God and the holy 
angels. 

And if his prayer is : " Lord help me that I may 
help others, "T believe God will deal bountifully with 
him in temporal affairs. 

" The age of miracles is past." 

No. The world is full of miracles. Every ear of 
corn is a miracle. Our bodies are miracles. The sun is 
a miracle. The poising of this world upon nothing is a 
miracle. 

The natural is full of the supernatural. 

Mr. Spurgeon says : 



VI PREFACE. 

" Jehovah, the Living God, distinctly promises to 
answer the prayers of his servants. He that gave parents 
a love for their children, will he not listen to the cries 
of his own sons and daughters ? He has wonders in 
store for them. What they have never seen, heard of, 
or dreamed of, he will do for them. He will invent 
new blessings if needful. He will ransack sea and land 
to feed them ; he will send every angel out of heaven to 
succor them, if their distress requires it. He will 
astound them with his grace, and make them feel that it 
was never before done in this fashion. All he asks of 
them is that they will call upon him. 1 ' 

" If it is true that God helps we should not mention it, for 
others might be induced to accept Christianity from a low mo- 
tive." 

Are we wiser than the Almighty ? " Godliness is 
profitable in all things, having promise of the life that 
now is, and of that which is to come." 

If it is safe for God to make this promise, it is safe for 
ns to repeat it. 

Worldly success should not be the dominant motive. 
" A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the 
things which he possesseth." This divine help in busi- 
ness matters is presented as being simply one of the inci- 
dents of a Christian life. All of God's dealings with his 
children ought to be worthy of consideration. 

" Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver 
thee, and thou shalt glorify me." 

This is our warrant for the presentation of these facts. 

The purpose of this book is twofold. 

First, in view of the many proofs of the goodness of 
the Father to induce some to turn from the world to 
serve the Living God. 

Secondly, to lead some weak, doubting Christians who 
are in trouble to place their hand in the hand of God. 

Does it look dark ? Hold on. Does it look darker ? 
Hold on. Does it look black ? Hold on. If you are 
his child deliverance will come. 

And may God add his blessing to the book. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface 3 

Introduction 9 

A.G.Lane 18 

Samuel Booth 18 

E. G. Selchow 18 

D. Hanchett 20 

LewE. Darrow 20 

William F. Bross 21 

James Black 21 

R. S. Fulton 22 

Anthony Comstock 22 

Clinton B. Fisk 23 

David M. Torrey . 24 

Samuel Morley 25 

George H. Shields 20 

The Misdirected Envelopes. . 26 

David M. Stone 27 

Rev. C. H. Yatman 28 

C. T. Christensen 28 

Rev. Wilbur F. Crafts 29 

Eben Tourgee 30 

Samuel Budgett 31 

Francis M. Buck 32 

Edson Allen 32 

Robert Capper 32 

William V. Holmes 33 

The Lord's Insurance Money. 34 

William Sutcliff 35 

John H. Cassidy 37 



PAGE 

Charles Cullis 37 

William Alexander Smith. . 39 

F. M 40 

William H. Hendrickson — 40 

The Lord Helps 41 

James R. Pitcher 42 

N.Ripley Cobb 42 

J. Mark Baldwin 43 

Rev. J. C. Allen 44 

Everett P. Wheeler 45 

A Boy's Testimony 45 

Esther B. Tuttle 4G 

William F. Hills 47 

Business Men's Testimonies. 48 

Z. Stiles Ely 53 

John Howard 53 

George Hague 54 

A Lesson of Faith 54 

W.I. Midler 56 

Thomas B. Peddie 57 

Russell W. McKee 58 

C. L. Rossiter 59 

A Consecrated $10 Bill 59 

John A. Black 60 

Stephen Merritt 61 

Lord, Help Me 61 

C. W. Smith 63 

A. H. Brummell 65 

Jolin G. Seeger 65 

The God of Israel 65 



via 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Charles E. Copp 67 

H.W.Hubbard 68 

Rev. Sam Jones 68 

John Wesley 70 

R.D.Duncan 71 

T.J.Chase 71 

George W. Rasure 72 

William A. Lay 73 

D.L.Moody 73 

E. A. Blackmore 75 

Rev. A. C. Johnson 76 

Rev. John Boyd 76 

John French 77 

William H. Durfee 78 

William Colgate 78 

R. F. Cummings 80 

A New Industry 81 

D.J.Lambert 82 

R. L. Eells 82 

George Miiller 83 

C. C. McCabe 89 

Alexanders. Bacon 90 

The Secret of Success 90 

T. B. Ventres 91 

S. S. Kingsley 91 

S. P. Fenn 91 

Perry Davis 92 

M. P. Barker 93 

The Lost Account 93 

Rev. Lyman Abbott 94 

Elijah A. Morse 94 

John Barry 95 

W. H. Doane 97 

A Young Convert's Courage 97 

Rev. James Thomas Sailes.. 98 

F. W. Underwood 99 

Alfred S. Barnes 100 

Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon. . . 100 

William Ives Washburn 103 

The Expressman's Experi- 
ment 103 



PAGE 

John T. Underwood 104 

Rev. J. O. Peck 104 

M. C. Phillips 106 

Otto A. Reinhardt 106 

An Old Gentleman's Testi- 
mony 107 

Edgar C. Patterson 108 

A Note Paid 108 

An Old Woman's Question.. 109 

Dr. A. M. Higgins 110 

Rev. John Steel Ill 

Ada L. Pangburn 114 

J. Newton Humphrey 115 

Rev. D. M. Heydrick 116 

A Calendar's Testimony .. . 119 
Capt. Lewis W. Pennington. 122 

J. August Smith 123 

Rev. Charles G. Finney 124 

William H. Ward 124 

From a Laborer to Mayor. . . 125 
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage. . 127 

Horace Waters 133 

George J. Rogers 133 

Profitable Giving 133 

John M. Ferris 134 

John Daniel Loest 135 

W. H. Ayres 140 

W. W. Wickes 140 

Stephen Caldecott 140 

Joseph Mackey 141 

The Lord Will Provide 142 

Alfred Jones 143 

Why He Failed 143 

JohnS. Creed 144 

Rev. J. D. Fulton 153 

What a Friend We Have in 

Jesus 161 

God's Share 163 

Bible Words on the Money 

Question 164 

First Fruits for God 167 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 



Shortly after accepting Christianity I began to notice 
peculiar incidents in my business. Mistakes and acci- 
dents which at first seemed disastrous resulted to my ad- 
vantage. These occurrences happened so often that it 
seemed impossible that they could be mere coincidences. 
It seemed as if some One was silently guiding and guard- 
ing my business. It dawned upon me at last, that this 
was the divine help referred to in the passage : " In all 
thy ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct thy 
paths." 

One morning, going up an unfrequented street, I dis- 
covered one of my men who should have been on Broad- 
way. He was curled up in a corner fast asleep. He 
was robbing me of the time for which he was being paid. 
If he had not been discovered this theft of time would 
probably have been repeated every day. It was discov- 
ered because that morning I had inadvertently taken the 
wrong boat to New York. I was landed where I did 
not intend to go. I am convinced that this was a 
divinely-appointed mistake. 



One day in my office about two hundred pounds of the 
plaster fell from the ceiling. At a desk directly under 
the break a young girl had sat every working day for six 
months. Five minutes before the crash an emergency 
had arisen which necessitated sending her out on an 
errand. She had never hefore been asked to perform an 
errand. If she had been in her seat that heavy two-inch 
plaster would undoubtedly have crushed in her skull. 
I believe God produced the emergency which saved her 
life. 



10 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

One day two of my workmen were sent to a roof to 
take down a fifty-foot iron sign. Their tools broke. 
The workmen said : " The iron is too hard to handle. 
"We cannot take the sign apart." 

I was in a dilemma. At this juncture I saw coming 
up the ladder a tall, burly, begrimed workman. I called 
out to him, " What do you want V 

" Nothing," he said. " I saw you men up here and 
I just thought I would take a look at you. I'm a black- 
smith, but I haven't any tiling to do to-day." 

" Do you want work ?" 

" Yes. What do you want done V 

" Knock that sign apart." 

The six-foot Hercules picked up the hammer and the 
broken chisel, struck a rivet, and it flew off as if made 
of wood. He knocked off another and another. In 
four hours the sign was apart. The work was accom- 
plished with the broken tools. 

In what a remarkable manner I was aided. That man 
in prowling around on a stranger's roof was rendering 
himself liable to arrest. But there he was ! A black- 
smith. The very man I needed. Praise the Lord ! 



May 1st, needing a place for large work, I rented an- 
other room for a year. One day as I handed in a check 
for the rent I was told that I could not have the place 
any longer. The landlord repudiated the verbal lease. 
1 said, " All right," and gave up the place. I decided 
not to procure another place until another contract for 
large work came in. From the time that check was re- 
fused until the following May I did not have an order 
for large work. I did not need the room. That land- 
lord's rascally repudiation of the lease saved nee seven 
months'* rent. " All things work together for good to 
those who love God." 

July C>th I was taken ill as soon as I reached New 
York. 1 was utterly incapable of transacting any busi- 
ness. About noon 1 felt better. At this time two gen- 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 11 

tlemen came in and gave an order amounting to $100. 
After their departure I felt ill again, and continued so 
all the afternoon. At night, as I looked back over the 
day, I realized the Providence which sent those men to 
me at the only time in the day when I could possibly have 
taken their order. 

In the same month, while engaged upon a piece of 
work, I was suddenly brought to a standstill. I conld 
go no further. A certain object was to be attained, but 
! conld not accomplish it. I called up a workman. He 
studied over the problem for twenty minutes, and then 
said, " It cannot be done." 

I silently asked God to help me. 

Quick as a flash the answer came. 

I saw in an instant how it should be done. The prob- 
lem was solved. What I could not do, what the work- 
man abandoned, was shown to me in a second of time. 



One day one of my workmen suddenly left. Some 
of the work was promised for the following day. I 
asked God to assist me. Three o'clock came. There 
lay the unfinished work. Four o'clock struck. No 
help. 

Had God forgotten me ? 

About half-past four two men came in inquiring for 
work. I put them on the unfinished contract, and 
before we went home that work was completed. 

Now, in regard to the man who left so suddenly. 

He had quietly made arrangements to go into business 
for himself. He opened his place. I soon discovered 
that he was going to my customers, depreciating my 
work, and endeavoring to get my business for him- 
self. 

This did not worry me in the least. I knew that the 
Lord was directing my affairs, and if there was to be any 
conflict it would be a conflict between God and a drunken 
workman. 

Who would win ? 



12 GOD IN* BUSINESS. 

In two months the sheriff took possession of this man's 
place. 

God won. 



During the last campaign we had an order for a banner 
to be swung on the occasion of a political meeting. It 
was delivered at six o'clock, but could not be hung 
because of a network of telegraph-wires in front of the 
club-room. 

The sign-hangers from the roofs endeavored to pull 
the wires apart, but without avail. The club-room was 
lighted up. The crowd began to assemble. If the ban- 
ner was not up soon it would not be accepted. That, 
meant a loss of 8150. The band arrived. The sign- 
hangers renewed their efforts. It was no nse. 

Failure stared us in the face. 

At this juncture we saw passing on the opposite side 
of the street two men whom we thought might help us. 
We hailed them and told our predicament. They were 
telegraphic linemen with their spurs on. They mounted 
the poles, cut the dead wires, separated the live ones : 

And the banner was swung. 

Nothing on earth but linemen could have saved 
us. There they were. How did they happen to be 
there ( 

" I am with thee to deliver thee." 



Once I had an order from a Broadway house for a 
peculiarly-shaped structure. It was made, but owing to 
a mistake in measurements did not fit, and had to be 
taken back. It was altered at considerable expense. 
"While it was being placed in position the second time, a 
stranger had his attention attracted to it, and needing 
something of the kind himself, asked for a card, came 
in and gave an order. The profit on this last order was 
three times as great as the loss on the first. Xotice, he 
did not appear when the structure was placed up the 
first, but the second time. The Lord turned a loss into 
a profit. 



001) IN BUSINESS. 13 

About the last of July I took an order from a trades- 
man in Ann Street. When the work was finished I sent 
in a bill, but could collect but half of the amount due. 
I sent repeatedly for the balance, but could not collect 
it. 

I then learned that the firm that did similar work for 
this man a year before never received a cent for it. I 
learned also that he owed another firm $800. 

I began to realize that I had fallen into the clutches 
of a sharper. I went to him and demanded my money 
again. Then he denied that he owed me anything. I 
told him if he didn't pay me I would come there every 
day. 

For a few days I did as I promised. Seeing it did no 
1 abandoned all effort to collect the bill. A week 
passed. I decided to make one more attempt. I asked 
the Lord to help me collect that bill. I went into the 
debtor's store, and quietly asked him if he was ready to 
pay. He said, " Yes ; I can't pay it all to-day, but 
here's something on account." 

Eight days later his account was settled in full. 

The firm that did similar work before had not received 
its money ; the $800 was not paid ; he denied that he 
owed ine a cent ; he once picked up a hatchet to throw 
at my collector, and yet the Almighty compelled liim to 
pay my bill. 

Richard Baxter said : " They who watch for Provi- 
dence will have providences to watch." 



A year ago I decided to have my life insured. One 
Saturday afternoon I applied to an insurance company for 
terms. These appearing satisfactory I promised to return 
on Monday to be examined. I was urged to submit to an 
examination at once, but declined. The next day I fell 
on the ice and sustained a severe wrenching which con- 
fined me to the bed for some time. During this period 
I received information regarding another life insurance 
organization. Upon recovery I examined into the sta- 
bility of this company, and ascertaining that it was sound, 



H GOD IN BUSINESS. 

joined it. The cost is fifty dollars a year less than if I 
had joined the first company. This was the direct result 
of that fall on the ice. I do not believe it just happened 
so. God has said that he is interested in the minutest 
details of our life. I am willing to give him the credit 
of keeping his word. 

In January, 1888, I went to a business house intend- 
ing to order $600 worth of goods. I held out to the 
head of the firm $100 as a deposit on the order. 

He declined to take it. lie said : " Wait. In a few 
weeks we can probably give you a lower price on these 
goods." 

I looked at the man in astonishment. A six-hundred- 
dollar order refused, and for such a reason ! I never 
heard of a similar case. I accepted this as a signal from 
God to stop. I put the money in my pocket and went 
out. 

Two months later I discovered that if I had gone into 
that enterprise it would have been a failure. 



One day I was startled by being served with a sum- 
mons in a suit against me for $700. I consulted a lawyer. 
He said that although I was not morally liable for the 
amount, yet I might be technically liable. There was a 
very fine point involved. If I would give him $25 he 
would do all he could to help me. That was not very 
reassuring. I decided to place the matter in the hand's 
of the great Law-Giver. In a few days there came a 
proposition from the plaintiff to meet him. I met him, 
and the suit was discontinued. 

" I will surely deliver thee because thou hast put thy 
trust in me, saith the Lord." 



For six years I held stock in a California vineyard. 
As no dividends had been declared I wrote out inquiring 
the reason. The answer was : " The cultivation of 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 15 

grapes does not pay. But yon may now expect large 
dividends. We are about to start a distillery." 

A distillery ! This was certainly not a suitable enter- 
prise for a Christian. I sold the stock and asked the 
Lord where to place the money. The answer came — 
that is, what I considered to be the answer. Six lots 
were just then offered to me. I bought them. Within 
a week I received word that they were sold at a profit of 
$150. 

The following Sunday evening at a church meeting 
I handed to a city missionary $15 — the proportion of 
the profit which God claims as his share. I mention 
this to bring out another fact. The missionary arose 
and said : " Friends, this afternoon 1 was in deep dis- 
tress. I had many calls upon me for help, but I had no 
money. I asked God what I should do. ] opened my 
Bible. Before my eyes were these words : 

" k The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. Send 
thee help from the sanctuary.' 

" To-night in this prayer-meeting — this sanctuary, I 
have received the money I needed. During my Chris- 
tian experience 1 have had hundreds of answers as defi- 
nite and unmistakable as this." 

A few days after this meeting I was surprised to hear 
that the sale of these lots was off. The purchaser had 
paid a deposit on them but had backed out, and had re- 
ceived from the agent his money. What did this mean ? 
Had God's plans miscarried ? Was this theory of divine 
help after all bnt a delusion ? These thoughts were ban- 
ished as soon as formed. I decided to trust in God and 
wait. I waited, for two months only, when another 
purchaser came along and bought four lots. Profit, $200. 

Encapsulation : $700 in a vineyard for six years with- 
out a dividend. In two months under God's direction 
turned at a profit of $200 ; and two lots left. 

" Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his good- 
ness, and for his wonderful works to the children of 



" Simply coincidences,' 1 says some one. 



16 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

No. Coincidences do not come with regularity. 
Chances do not come in processions. 

Dr. Cuyler says : " Unbelievers call special interposi- 
tions of Providence coincidences. In one sense they are 
right. They are divine coincidences. God's plans and 
his works always coincide. But if they mean that these 
interpositions are accidents, that they just happen so, 
they are wrong. There are no accidents in God's econ- 
omy." 

My experience has demonstrated to me that our 
Heavenly Father has not left us to struggle through life 
without assistance, but 

" Behind the great unknown 
Standeth God within the shadows, keeping watch upon his own." 



DOES GOD ASSIST THE CHRISTIAN IN 
BUSINESS ? 

The following facts were obtained by means of per- 
sonal letters in answer to the above query, from public 



18 GOD IN BUSINESS. 



A. G. LANE, 

Superintendent of Schools, Chicago, 111. 

A public trust involving thousands of dollars was com- 
mitted to me. A bank failed, and the money was lost. 
After selling what I owned, I believed it to be my Chris- 
tian duty to try to pay the balance. 

Fourteen years have passed, and I think two years 
more will clear off the trust. God opened the pathway. 

A. G. Lane. 

SAMUEL BOOTH, 
Ex-Mayor of Brooklyn, K. Y. 

God careth for all his creatures. He has often in my 
seasons of business extremity opened up for me ways of 
relief of such a character as to lead me to discern his kind- 
ness and care. 

1 cannot think myself a special favorite above others 
perhaps more worthy than myself. God assists all who 
from a sincere heart call on him in time of need — this 
in temporal as well as spiritual concerns. 

Samuel Booth. 

E. G. SELCHOW, 

New York. 

God has done much for me in business. At one tim* 
when desirous of purchasing a building for the Lord's 
work, many thousand dollars were needed, and as I 
prayed and waited for light the Spirit bade me go for- 
ward nothing doubting, and so on the strength of his 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 10 

Word a contract was made out, which was to be 
signed on a certain day, and yet up to within a few 
hours of the time there was not enough money on hand 
to meet the demand. 

This was a most interesting chance to just watch and 
see how deliverance would come, so I put the contract 
in my pocket, saying, "Lord, the time is short ; what 
shall I do?" 

I seemed impelled to make a call where of all places 
in the world I should least have looked for help, but as 
I was about leaving, a person with whom I was not per- 
sonally acquainted came to me, and without opening 
conversation, said, 

" I've been praying much over a sum of money that I 
want to give to the Lord, and I am confident he has led 
me to you." I asked how large the amount was, and 
found it to be exactly what was needed to complete the 
contract. 

I said to this person, " How did you happen to come 
tome?" 

The answer was, " I believe I was divinely guided to 
you. I knew you were interested in this work, and in 
answer to my prayer the Lord directed me to you." 

I took the money in his name, and praised him for 
such wonderful victory. 

One morning while seated at my desk, suddenly the 
Spirit of the Lord came upon me and demanded my 
attention. 

I said, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." 

Then the voice spoke to my soul, pressing upon me 
the importance of going to a fellow-man and offering 
financial assistance. 

1 glanced at the clock, which told the hour of nine, 
and with one excuse and another, I postponed the mat- 
ter until nearly ten. Then I arose, saying, " Lord, I 
will go, even though it seems like a foolhardy expe- 
dition." 

I reached the place, asked the question as to whether 



SO GOD IN BUSINESS. 

the man needed help, and was startled when he replied : 
" One hour ago such help would have proved a great 
relief, but now the want is met." You see, while 1 was 
inventing excuses, God sent some other messenger on 
this errand of mercy. God not only talks with his chil- 
dren, but requires prompt obedience. 

E. G. Selchow. 

D. HANCHETT, 
Kaneville, 111. 

I recognize God's hand in his Providential dealings, 
and those dealings toward me have always been in mercy. 

I have often seen his special Providence in answer to 
prayer. Starting with a small capital he has enabled 
me to give some thousands of dollars for the cause of 
Christ, and now in old age I have a competency of this 
world's goods. 

D. Hanchett. 

LEW E. D ARROW, 
President of the First National Bank, Corning, la. 

In 1867 I was a book-keeper in New York City. My 
employers decided to close their business, and notified 
their employes that they would not be wanted after a 
month. I immediately advertised for a position. The 
same day my advertisement appeared in the paper I re- 
ceived a note from a firm requesting me to call. I 
called, and the first question asked me was : " What do 
you do on Sunday ?" I replied that I attended Dr. 
Foster's (now Bishop Foster) church, and taught a Sun- 
day-school class there. The gentleman then said, " I 
do not want a man to keep books for me who does not 
fear God." The result of the interview was I went to 
a new place the next day at an increased salary. 

Toward the close of the year this new firm so changed 
their business that they required no book-keeper, and I 
was again to be without a place, but I was not fearful 
about the matter, for I believed God would care for me. 



GOD IN" BUSINESS. 21 

My wife often wondered how I could be so cheerful 
under the circumstances. The last day of December 
came and I knew not where I was to work the coming 
year. Just about four o'clock in the afternoon a gentle- 
man in the same line of business came in, and asked my 
employer if he knew of a good book-keeper he could 

fet. My employer immediately recommended me, and 
was engaged, and went to work at the beginning of the 
new year without the loss of a day's time. 

1 feel that God opened the way for me in these two 
cases, as he has often done at other times. 

Lew E. Daerow. 



WILLIAM F. BROSS, 

Ex-Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois, and Proprietor of 
the Chicago Tribune. 

The integrity and energy of character which a Chris- 
tian life inculcates become known to the business public, 
and are a sure basis of success. 

It is in this way the dear Lord gives prosperity to his 
people. 

In my own case, especially while in college, I can 
give facts that prove to me as conclusively as anything 
can that Providence directed me to the means of secur- 
ing my graduation from Williams College, and in all my 
subsequent history many instances have occurred where 
the hand of the Lord guided me to whatever success I 
have been able to achieve. 

Unworthy as I know I have been the Lord has ever 
been my guide to direct, bless, and comfort me. 

William F. Beoss. 

HON. JAMES BLACK, 

Lawyer, Lancaster, Pa. 

Three times in my business life when environed with 
difficulties, with apparently no escape, deliverance came 
in answer to prayer. 



22 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

The way opened was so marked that 1 have ever since 
felt and acknowledged that my Heavenly Father's hand 
opened the gate. 

I name three occasions as specially marked, but dur- 
ing all my business life 1 have felt his loving care and 
help, and do believe in his special personal Providence. 

James Black. 

R. S. FULTON, 
Cincinnati, O. 

I can and do most cheerfully bear testimony that our 
Heavenly Father helps his children in business. I have 
had eighteen years of such help. There have been many 
critical junctures in those years where prayer for a 
higher wisdom has been answered as manifestly as prayer 
for spiritual blessings. 

I do most sincerely believe that God takes interest in 
all the Christian's affairs, and that if any matter is large 
enough to concern us we may carry it to him in prayer, 
assured of a hearing, and of an answer, too, although the 
answer may differ from the expectation. 

R. S. Fulton. 

ANTHONY COMSTOCK. 

The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, 
150 Nassau Street, New York. 

A short time ago we needed funds to work with in 
this Society. Our treasury was empty. Those to whom 
I could go for assistance were out of the city, and some 
of them out of the country. There was a very impor- 
tant work to be done. It lay heavy upon my mind. I 
could not sleep at night. I sought the Lord in prayer. 
I plead that in his own way he would send me means to 
work with. I went to the office the next morning de- 
termined to do my part, and leave all in his hands. A 
man came in to call upon me, and left 8200 in cash be- 
fore he left the office. 



OOD IN BUSINESS. *.J 

Another similar instance, where we needed funds to 
secure evidence against men that were openly violating 
the law, 1 sought the Lord for help, for it seemed as 
if all human sources were dried up for the time being. 
I prayed God's blessing, and that he would send us 
means to work with. On reaching my office I found an 
envelope with $150 lying upon my desk. Where it came 
from I do not know, except that it came in answer to 
prayer. 

A few years ago we were in debt some $3000. I had 
taken this burden to the Lord in prayer. My only plea 
was, " Thou art able and willing in thine own time." 
And although my blood was shed by attempted assassi- 
nation, yet as 1 look back I believe that that was God's 
best way of bringing the people to see the necessities of 
this Society and arousing public conscience ; because 
that stroke of the assassin's knife, though it laid me low 
for days, was the means, under the blessing of God, of 
not only paying that debt, but this Society has been 
cared for ever since. 

So in the passage of laws at Washington ; so in secur- 
ing enactments in the Legislature, and so in the success 
of every department of this work, whenever we go to 
God for his blessing, always yielding our will to his, we 
find our efforts crowned with success. 

Anthony Comstock. 



GENERAL CLINTON B. FISK, 
New York. 

God helps the Christian in business. It cannot be 
otherwise when a man with established principles of 
Christian charity and uprightness moves among the ex- 
changes, " diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord." 

Reverses come to many of the best of men. God 
assists them in that way, chastening and educating them 
for better work. 

Illustrations showing God's wonderful dealings with 



24 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

business men who have been consecrated to his service 
are abundant. 

Mr. Samuel Budgett, late of Bristol, England, and Sir 
William McArthur, late Lord Mayor of London, are 
striking examples in Europe. 

J. B. Cornell and the late William E. Dodge, of New 
York, rank among the first business men of America. 
All these have been among the largest givers of money 
and time to advancing God's kingdom on the earth, and 
have been among the most successful of business men. 

Sanctified common sense goes a great way in laying 
the foundations for success in all legitimate business 
enterprises. 

It is a great thing to be lifted above the trammels of 
commercial selfishness and recognize " God in business." 

Clinton B. Fisk. 



DAYID M. TORREY, 
Banker and Broker, New York. 

I commenced my Christian life and walk with God, 
February 22d, 1876, through the instrumentality of 
Mr. Moody in the Hippodrome. His most precious 
instruction to me was to take God at his word and trust 
him. This I did to my soul's salvation. Having found 
the dear Lord good, and ready to help me in time of 
need, I thought I would try him in temporal things as I 
was out of business. After praying and trusting for 
three days he opened the way. The first day he allowed 
me to make eighty-five cents. It continued to increase, 
and he has poured thousands of dollars into my lap. My 
business now is the result of that little beginning and 
the answer to prayer. It has always been my plan to 
reserve ten per cent of my profits for God's use. 

I could say much more, and many things which would 
seem like a dream to hear, but I know how good God 
has been to me, and what he has done for me, he is will- 
ing to do for any soul that will trust him. 

D. M. ToRREY. 




SAMUEL MORLEY. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 25 



SAMUEL MORLEY. 



Samuel Morley was the youngest of John Morley's 
three children. He was born at Hackney, a suburb of 
London, in the year 1809. In early manhood he joined 
the business of his father and uncle in London, where he 
soon became the chief director and moving spirit. 

It was his habit to admit into a limited partnership, 
for a certain number of years, five men, who at the time 
were the heads of departments. They became partners, 
and the next in rank in each department was promoted 
to the head of the department, to be taken into partner- 
ship when the due time came. Thus every boy who 
entered the employ of Mr. Morley had before him the 
possibility of winning the magnificent prize of a partner- 
ship in the famous house. 

Not many years ago, when the famous building known 
as Exeter Hall, and honored by many hallowed associa- 
tions, was offered for sale, and efforts were made to use 
it as a theatre, Samuel Morley came to the rescue. He 
wrote his check for $25,000, and gave it to the Secretary 
of the Young Men's Christian Association to enable him 
to buy the building for the Association. 

Aid to churches came from him, too, with astonishing 
munificence. Any church desiring to erect a new build- 
ing or to clear its present building of debt, might count 
on a gift from Mr. Morley. The low spititual condition 
of London weighed heavily upon him, and he labored 
hard to arouse public interest in the subject. Eventually 
twenty-four places of worship of the Congregational de- 
nomination were built as the result of his effort, and to 
each of them he gave $2500— a total of $60,000 in that 
one matter alone. Toward the cost of the beautiful 
Memorial Hall in London, Mr. Morley gave $30,000 ; 
and shortly before his death he undertook to pay $25,000 
more toward the cost of erecting ten similar halls, on a 
smaller scale in various parts of London, for poor 
•brethren to meet in. 

Mr. Morley's business increased until it has now trans- 
actions with every civilized nation on the face of the 



26 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

earth. He gave God the credit for his remarkable suc- 
cess. 

" He that soweth bountifully shall reap also bounti- 
fully, for God loveth a cheerful giver." 



GEORGE H. SHIELDS, 
St. Louis, Mo. 

Whatever of success in business I may have attained, 
I attribute to the blessings of the Ruler of the Universe. 
Often success came in direct answer to prayer, and fre- 
quently seeming disappointment proved a blessing ulti- 
mately. 

I believe as firmly in the overruling Providence of 
God in our temporal prosperity or adversity as I do in 
his omniscience and omnipotence. 

George H. Shields. 



Do your best. God will do the rest. 



THE MISDIRECTED ENVELOPES. 

James Jerrold was out of work. He was a young 
married man. The dissolution of a firm threw him out 
of employment. Repeated failures to obtain work nearly 
disheartened him. But his good wife kept him hopeful, 
and daily prayer preserved his strength and courage, for 
James Jerrold believed in God. 

One evening the mail brought him two letters. One 
was from Slater & Bunce offering him a situation and a 
large salary ; the other was from Wallace & Co. offering 
a situation and a small salary. He did as doubtless hun- 
dreds of others would have done. He wrote to Slater & 
Bunce accepting their offer, and another to Wallace & 
Co. declining. 

The next day he received answers to his letters. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 27 

Slater & Bunce wrote their regrets that lie had declined 
their offer, and Wallace & Co. named the time when he 
should report for duty. 

James had carelessly changed the envelopes in reply- 
ing, and each firm had received the letter intended for 
the other. He hurried to the city to rectify his mistake. 
He was too late. The vacancy in Slater & Bunce' s had 
been filled. Then James could only accept the inevi- 
table. He went to his new work and small salary with a 
heavy heart. "Wallace & Co. were an old and safe firm, 
and they were pleased with him. One day James was 
startled by a piece of news. He hurried home to tell his 
wife. Slater & Bunce had failed. James Jerrold's mis- 
take proved a blessing in disguise. — Tales of Trust. 



DAVID M. STONE, 

Proprietor Journal of Commerce, New York. 

We often hear of the " laws of nature" and the " laws 
of trade," but as there is only one Lawgiver in the uni- 
verse whatever is thus written in the constitution of 
things must be a law of God. 

The laws of trade are the work of the same finger that 
inscribed the Ten Commandments on the tables of stone. 
They cannot be repealed or set aside by man, nor dis- 
obeyed with impunity. 

Reason and revelation alike teach the one truth, that 
he who is in hearty sympathy with the great Lawgiver 
must be best able to conform his life to the requirements 
that control success. 

If God has thus written upon every industry the laws 
that govern it, he must desire to have such rules obeyed, 
and no heart that seeks his help will be refused his aid. 

The divine revelation is full of promises to all who 
ask supernal guidance ; and experience proves that no 
honest appeal is left unanswered. 

David M. Stone. 



28 GOD IX BUSINESS. 

REV. C. H. YATMAN. 

The Bible has much to say to business men. I'd like 
to have the first ten verses of the third chapter of Prov- 
erbs and the thirty-third verse of Matthew 6 printed at 
the top of their day-book, journal, cash-book, and ledger. 
They would do no harm if printed across the balance 
sheet in red, and given a tint color on the checks. 

Considerable more Bible-reading to go along with stock 
quotations and price-lists would do business men good. 
Sunday traffic would get a death-blow if Neliemiah xiii. 
were given a fair chance. Do you suppose a man can 
read Matthew, chapter 5, in the morning and then go 
out to make his shekels by fair or foul means ? No, sir, 
not if he is a real man. Fools and fops may, but not 
one we call a man. 

It may be your opinion, but it's not mine or the Bible's, 
that God won't help a man make money. I can prove 
to you from forty-five chapters in the New Testament 
alone that he will, but when he goes in to rob widows 
and cheat his neighbors, put it down that sooner or later 
he will settle for less than fifty cents on the dollar. — 
Watchman. 



GENERAL C. T. CHRISTENSEN, 
Banker, New York. 

My experience of over forty years in practical business 
life has taught me that the business man who is a firm 
believer in God — that is, who constantly and faithfully 
moulds his thoughts, words, and actions on divine pre- 
cepts, is surest to reap permanent success in life, and, 
what is better still, and often compensates for lack of 
such success, the absolute confidence and respect of his 
fellow-men and the inward comfort and strength that 
lies in the testimony of his conscience that he has en- 
deavored to the best of his ability to do right under all 
circumstances. 

The God-fearing merchant is the soul of honesty and 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 29 

integrity ; his word is his bond, and he is also generous 
and genial to those around him, whether partners, em- 
ployes, customers, or even competitors. He loves his 
work. To him it is not a dry, wearisome struggle for ex- 
istence. He feels that he has a duty to perform. He 
appreciates the noble purposes for which honest business 
is conducted. Pie spreads happiness around him by 
being happy himself. 

That is ray ideal of a Christian business man, and I 
have met many bright examples of such in my experi- 
ence, and their number is being constantly increased. 

C. T. ClIRISTENSEN. 



REV. WILBUR F. CRAFTS. 

In his book " Successful Men of To-day," Mr. Crafts 
writes : 

" The wealthy men of our cities, as well as of our 
farms, are chiefly religious men. 

"I asked a prominent business man of Chicago, who 
has been active in the very heart of its commercial life 
for sixteen years, to make a careful list of its one hun- 
dred richest men, and then tell me how many of them 
were church members. His report was, ' seventy church 
members ; twenty-four attend church, and I think are 
not members ; three I consider dissipated, and three are 
Jews, who are good citizens.' 

" One of the wealthiest manufacturers of Philadelphia 
told me that the percentage of Christian men among the 
wealthy of that city was as good as in Chicago. Rev. 
Dr. Washington Gladden is authority for the statemtnt 
that about three fourths of the business men in the city 
of Springfield, Mass., are actively engaged in Christian 
work. 

" The Bible books from Joshua to Job are a series of 
sermons on the secrets of success and failure, illustrated 
by the brief biographies of fifty rulers, all negatively 
or positively enforcing that text which is the key verse 
of all Old Testament history : 



30 GOD IN BUSINESS. 



As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to 
prosper. 



5 ?5 



PROFESSOR EBEN TOURGfiE, 

Director New England Conservatory of Music, Boston. 

I am reminded of an experience in the early history of 
the North End Mission which established my own confi- 
dence in a Providential guidance in business affairs, and 
which may prove of interest and encouragement to 
others. I became deeply interested in the Mission at a 
time when its income was very small, but when its op- 
portunities for usefulness were boundless. A few ear- 
nest men stood by it and much good was accomplished ; 
but in spite of our efforts we were running behind, and 
it became a very serious problem as to how the necessary 
expense of about $500 a month could be met. There 
came a day about this time when some money must be 
raised, and the matter lay heavily on my heart, and 
became the subject of my constant prayer. 

As it happened (?) I met a friend to whom I un- 
bosomed my great interest in the matter, and he kindly 
suggested the name of a gentleman whom I did not 
know, but who he said might be willing to help us. 

I immediately proposed that we visit the gentleman in 
question, which we accordingly did, and I was intro- 
duced to him in his office, and proceeded to state the 
case, appealing in the name of the good work begun, and 
the large possibilities of usefulness in the future, to his 
kindly interest. 

I could not forecast the good purpose of his heart as it 
was moved at that moment, as 1 felt, by the Spirit of 
God. I certainly should have been delighted with $50 ; 
but to my overwhelming joy he walked to his safe and 
took out $500, which he placed in my hand, saying, at 
the same time, that I should come again in one month 
and get $500 more, and at the end of another month for 
as much more, and so on for the next twelve months. 
His sole provision in the gift was that I should not men- 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 31 

tion his name— a request I have always honored — but his 
kindly deed is remembered in Heaven, and his reward 
will await him there. 

This is but one of numerous incidents in my own ex- 
perience, in which I have met with unqualified assur- 
ances that God does not leave us alone in financial 
matters. 

E. ToURGEE. 



SAMUEL BUDGETT. 

Samuel Budgett, the general provision merchant-prince 
of Kingswood Hall, England, was a living proof of 
God's help in business. 

He had a natural inclination to trade. He commenced 
trading with his companions at the age of eleven. As 
soon as he got a few shillings ahead his warm heart im- 
pelled him to give the money away. He was converted 
early in life and determined to live and work for God. 

He established a provision business at Kingswood Hall. 
It grew to immense proportions. A writer in the Chris- 
tian Miscellany, for 1847, said : " I dropped into the 
giant warehouse of Samuel Budgett. The clerk said, 
' Our men are engaged in morning prayer. Will you 
step up ? ' I entered a room in which were from fifty 
to one hundred porters in white frocks, all sitting in the 
stillness of family devotion. At the table sat a devout 
laborer giving out a hymn. The singing charmed me. 
We then fell on our knees and worshipped the God of 
commerce. Then the porters went about their business 
with happy hearts. Everything in this establishment is 
sanctified by prayer. It is no wonder that Samuel Bud- 
gett, in addition to his having peace and piety among his 
men, has arisen from a small beginning to great wealth 
and prosperity. 1 ' 

" I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence 
cometh my help. 

" My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven 
and earth." 



32 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

FRANCIS M. BUCK, 

Chicago, 111. 

It pays to take God into partnership. We should look 
to him continually during our business perplexities. The 
Lord has blessed me wonderfully in my business life, and 
I am sure that those who put their trust in him will 
never be confounded. 

Francis M. Buck. 



EDSON ALLEN, 

Toledo, O. 

I am confident that God guided me fifty years ago 
from Vermont to this place. I reached here with neither 
money nor friends. The Lord has prospered me in busi- 
ness, and enabled me to give hundreds of dollars to the 
cause of missions. Now, well on in years, 1 have all I 
need of this world's goods. 

Edson Allen. 

ROBERT CAPPER, 

Swansea, England. 

Mr. Robert Capper is the eldest son of the late Charles 
Capper, formerly Member of Parliament for the ancient 
Borough of Sandwich. His early years were spent in 
the employment of Messrs. Peto, Betts & Brassey, of 
world-wide fame, concerned in the management of docks, 
railways, and submarine cables, at home and abroad, and 
in their projection, directly under the personal observa- 
tion of Sir Morton Peto and the late Thomas Brassey. 
Upon the sudden death of his father, he and two brothers 
Avent to Western Equatorial Africa, being the least 
known of all the countries the brothers had visited, 
ascending the then very little known rivers, Niger and 
Congo, going where white men had never been seen. 
Few men living or dead have seen so much of Western 
Africa between Sierra Leone and St. Paul-de-Loanda as 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 33 

Mr. Capper, passing through every imaginable danger 
on land and by water, " the arrow that flies by day and 
the pestilence that walks by night, to say nothing of the 
sickness that destroys at noonday." Though unhurt 
himself, his brothers perished. Mr. Robert Capper was 
shipwrecked at Cape Barbas, about the centre of the 
stretch of coast formed by some five hundred miles of 
the Great Desert of Sahara, which abuts upon the Atlan- 
tic, and after a week's hardship, he was rescued by act- 
ing upon a dream. For the past eight years and upward 
Mr. Capper has managed and still controls the fortunes 
of Swansea Harbor, to the great profit of the town and 
community around. 
He writes : 

Swansea, September 17, 1887. 

As an African traveller and a man of business I hasten 
to bear witness to " God in business." I have experi- 
enced it every day for years. I have mentioned it only 
to my friend, James Inskip, of Bristol, and to a lady 
who was endeavoring to get a child into the Masonic 
School. When every one seemed against her I urged 
her to have faith, and ask God's help. 

I have her letter saying she did as 1 advised, and her 
child entered the school. 

Robert Capper. 

WILLIAM V. HOLMES, 

Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

I will very gladly testify that God is with us in busi- 
ness to guide and help. 

I am about entering business for myself. For a long 
time I have been undecided in this matter. 

At last I made it a subject of prayer, and then God 
opened the way for me in a manner I little dreamed of. 
I believe it to be a direct answer to prayer. 

I would not dare to enter my new business without 
God's help — with it, I feel certain of success. 

William Y. Holmes. 



34 GOD IN" BUSINESS. 



THE LORD'S INSURANCE MONEY. 

A merchant in New York had pledged to give to the 
Lord a certain portion of his business receipts as fast as 
they were collected. He called this The Lord? 8 Insur- 
ance Money, for, said he, " So long as I give, so long 
will the Lord help and bless me, and in some way he 
will give me the means to give. 

" It is a blessing to my heart to keep it open in grati- 
tude ; a blessing to dispose of it to gladden other hearts, 
and the surest way to keep the Lord's favor with me." 

The results of his experience were blessed indeed, as 
he said, " I never realized before how closely the Lord 
is connected with my interests, and how he helps me in 
all my business plans. 

" Things happen daily which show me that some One 
who knows more than I is protecting me. Bad debts 
have been paid which I did not expect. Errand boys 
just getting into sly and bad habits have been discovered 
ere their thefts had proceeded far. As I needed com- 
petent help in my business it has come just as it was 
wanted. 

" When customers were about to fail somehow their 
debts to me were paid, although they failed to pay 
others. A severe fire came to my office and seemed to 
have swept all my valuables away. But it was stopped 
at just the right moment, and not one thing valuable was 
lost. The insurance companies paid me enough to re- 
place every damage, and the office was renewed better 
than before. The Lord sends me business enough to pay 
my debts, while otbers are dull. 

" I cannot tell why it is except that I always pray for 
my business, and ask the Lord to bless it for the good of 
others, and that the means which come from it may be 
used for his cause. 

" When I stop giving business stops coming. When 
I stop praying for it perplexities arise. As long as I 
pray for it, it all moves easily and I have no care or 
trouble. 

The Lord is my Banker, my Insurer, my Deliverer, 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 35 

my Patron, and my Blessed Guardian of temporal things 
as well as spiritual." — The Wonders of Prayer. 



" Blessed is he that considereth the poor. The Lord 
will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will pre- 
serve him, and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed 
upon the earth. ' ' 



WILLIAM SUTCLIFF, 

Late of Bacup, England. 

Bacup, September 20, 1887. 

Dear Sir : I send you by post a sketch of my father's 
life which I think is to the point. 

James S. Sutcliff, 

Mayor of Bacup. 

Mr. William Sutcliff was born at Great House Clough, 
in the vale of Todmorden, July 7th, 1797. When in 
his teens he was sent with a horse and cart for flour to a 
Mr. Thompson's mill. Discovering, as he was returning 
home, that Mr. Thompson had given hi in ten shillings 
too much change he drove back at once to rectify the 
mistake. This circumstance caused him to be closely 
watched by Mr. Thompson, and led to an engagement 
satisfactory to both parties. In 1828 he was intrusted 
with the management of the Bacup branch of Mr. 
Thompson's business, and was soon after taken into part- 
nership. This partnership was dissolved in 1852, and 
Mr. Sutcliff became the sole owner of the Bacup and 
Rawtenstall establishments. 

He was a devoutly religious man. The venerable 
Rev. William Tranter says : " When his new mill was 
completed he applied to me to consecrate it to God 
before any worldly business was done. I did as he de- 
sired. His daughter has often heard him say, ' God has 
been revealing himself to me in a wonderful manner.' ' 

Sanctified by the grace of the Messiah, Mr. Sutcliff 



36 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

made his money, used it, and gave it. An able capitalist 
and at the same time a Christian philanthropist. 

His business engagements often called him away from 
home, and long, lonely night journeys exposed him to 
many perils, but placing himseif in the hands of God he 
■ moved with a charmed life. Once when returning at 
midnight a professedly crippled woman solicited a ride v 
in his buggy. 

It was well known that on this night Mr. Sutclifl had 
a large sum of money with him. Unsuspecting any mis- 
chief, Mr. Satcliff stopped his horse while he made a 
call at the house of a customer. Returning to the street 
he found that the team and the woman had vanished. 
The vehicle was found quite safe at a distance, but the 
"cripple' 1 was not to be seen. Mr. Sutcliff now saw 
that the whole tiling was a plot to rob him ; the pre- 
tended cripple, however, thinking that Mr. Sutcliff had 
gone for assistance decamped, and the scheme was frus- 
trated. 

On other occasions he narrowly escaped violence and 
death. Mr. Sutcliff continually saw the hand of God 
guiding and sheltering him. 

One night a fire broke out in a mill adjoining his 
corn-mill, and soon the windows of the corn-mill were 
ablaze. 

Aroused from sleep Mr. Sutcliff bade his men do 
their best to save the property ; then, falling upon his 
knees he asked for divine heip. Just at the moment 
when it seemed impossible to save the corn-mill, the 
wind suddenly veered and blew the flames in an opposite 
direction, and his property was saved. 

Throughout his whole life he remembered that he was 
the servant of God, and prosecuted his business in the 
spirit of Christianity, and God prospered him in busi- 
ness. From comparatively small beginnings he became 
a wealthy man, but to the end retained all his humility 
of spirit and simplicity of life. 



•* He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed." 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 37 

JOHN H. CASSIDY, 

New York. 

God has assisted me for forty-six years of business life. 
I am now nearly seventy years old. During the last 
years of ray life nothing has been done without first con- 
sulting my God. Never do 1 enter into anything with- 
out his approval. In all my ways I have tried to ac- 
knowledge him, and he has directed my path. I never 
attempt any business large or small except such as I can 
carry to him for a blessing. 

Oh, how good my God has been in showing me what 
to do! 

John II. Cassidy. 



Carved in stone upon the front of one of the great 
business structures of London is the inscription : 

" The Earth Is The Lord's, And The Fulness Thereof." 

The time is coming when God will be generally recog- 
nized in business, when men will do business for Jesus 
when upon many a sign will be seen the words : 

" Holiness unto the Lord. " 



DE. CHAELES CULLIS. 

Dr. Charles Cullis is the founder and superintendent of 
the Consumptives' Rome, Boston, Mass., and also the 
head of a number of other institutions all depending 
upon God for financial support. In his annual report 
for 1887, he says : 

" An explanation is due to our donors why our report 
has been delayed for two years. For several years it has 
been in my mind that some time the Lord would give 
me an opportunity to prove to the world that he is the 



38 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

supporter of this work, and he alone ; that he could 
supply all our need if a report were not printed ; so I 
decided that if at any time we were in great straits again, 
I would withhold printing a report, until such time as 
the straits were ended ; for this reason : It is a common 
remark that ' Dr. Cullis says he does not make any ap- 
peals, but his report is an appeal ; he sends it to every- 
body, and they naturally send him money.' Let me 
give one answer to this. I only send my report to 
donors, that they may find there the acknowledgment of 
their money, and see how it has been used. All other 
persons wishing a report must send for it, and pay 
twenty-five cents a copy. I determined three years ago, 
when we were in great straits, and were behind in the 
payment of many bills, that I would not issue a report 
until I could say and prove that the Lord was equal to 
all emergencies, and a present help in time of trouble. 
Hence the delay in issuing this report. I would say to 
the praise and glory of God that he has answered praj'er, 
and delivered us in seasons when no one knew our con- 
dition, and gave us a larger amount in the year during 
which the report was withheld than for many years pre- 
vious, leaving at the end of the year a balance in the 
treasury. It is blessed to trust the Lord. 

" Sometimes I am in great straits. Then people say 
to me, ' I should think you would be weary of these 
continual trials of faith.' No. It is the most delightful 
life God ever gave to man. ' Yes,' they say, ' it must 
be delightful when you have plenty of money, but when 
you have to wait day after day with only a little money 
coming in I should think it would kill you.' I have had 
all this said to me again and again, but God knows that 
my heart rests in him ; that I have no pledges of gifts, 
no promises of man to fall back upon. I have simply 
and only the Word of Jesus. Yes, it is more to me than 
any earthly bank or millions of money, and my heart 
sings for joy, not only when there is an abundance, but 
in the trial ; for his Word is 'a rock,' and upon that 
rock I ' stand.' 

" God lives ! As I take my pen to record this report, 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 39 

my mind looks at the twenty-three years since the Con- 
sumptives' Home was started. These wonderful years 
of blessing, of his care and love, of the thousands of 
prayers answered, of the souls saved, and the increased 
faith of God's children, as they have learned of God's 
dealings with me in this his own work, and my heart 
says, ' Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. 
Praise ye the Lord.' I ask myself, ' Would I give up 
the simple way of trusting God's Word for the supply of 
my needs, and look to human hands and hearts for that 
supply ? ' My soul says, ' Never.' I do not mean that 
human hands and hearts have not helped me — how else 
could help come ? — but it has been in answer to the voice 
of God, not mine. The longer I live the more 1 praise 
God that he moves upon the hearts of men to help, so I 
look to him and give him the praise, that those who give 
are with me instruments of the living God. 

" During the year the Lord has sent in cash, in answer 
to prayer alone, $31,223.45. 

" For the twenty-three years since the work was estab- 
lished, $574,416.24." 



WILLIAM ALEXANDER SMITH, 
Banker, New York. 

Does God assist the Christian in business ? 

Yes. I do not know that 1 can better further answer 
your inquiry than by saying that 1 am a firm believer in 
a special Providence. 

William Alexander Smith. 



"Is it wrong to have money ? That depends upon 
where you place your box of gold. If you put it on 
your head it will crush you to the earth. If you place it 
on the ground and stand upon it, it will lift you a step 
nearer heaven." 

Theodore L. Cutler. 



4:0 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

F. M. 

London, September 16, 1887. 

I wish to state that I for one have felt the Father's 
helping hand in many ways. 1 have sometimes been 
driven almost to despair to know how to assist those who 
are dear to me, and I have prayed to God and he has 
answered me. 

I hope your book will meet with success, for we need 
some such work to turn the people's hearts toward their 
Saviour, for many in England now have become so de- 
generate, selfish, and wicked, that they deem a person 
mad if he or she tries to follow Christ in spirit and in 
truth. 

F. M. 



WILLIAM II. HEKDRICKSON, 

New York. 

I was led to see, by the life and testimony of a dear 
brother, that our heavenly Father cares for us in all our 
daily needs, and I felt assured that if I would seek first 
the kingdom of God and his righteousness all these 
things would be added unto me. 

To-day I can say God has kept his promise. Although 
before this I had been a professing Christian, I was now 
led to see that the Lord was willing to help us in tem- 
poral as well as spiritual matters. 

At this time I was in need in a business way, yet I 
took him at his word. Now, after six years of this 
manner of living and trusting, I have found that all 
things have worked together for my good. 

I know now that it is better to trust in the Lord than 
to put confidence in man. 

I might relate many events which have proved to me 
that God hears and answers prayer. 

William H. Hendrickson. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 41 



THE LORD HELPS. 



A poor weaver once lived in the little German town 
of Wupperthal. He trusted in God at all times. " The 
Lord helps," he was accustomed to say under all circum- 
stances of trouble. One day, on account of depression, 
he was discharged. " The Lord helps," he said. When 
his wife heard the sad news she bewailed it terribly. As 
the days went on poverty pinched them sorely. At last 
came the day when not a penny was left — no bread, no 
fuel in the house. Starvation stared them in the face. 
The window was open, and possibly the words which the 
weaver kept repeating, " The Lord helps," were heard 
outside, for a street-boy looked saucily in and threw a 
dead raven at the feet of the weaver. " There, saint ; 
there is something for you to eat," he said, taunt- 
ingly. 

The weaver picked up the dead raven and said, " Poor 
creature. It must have died of hunger." He felt of 
its crop to see if it were empty and noticed something 
hard. Wishing to know what had caused the bird's 
death he opened the gullet, when to his surprise a gold 
necklace fell into his hand. " The Lord helps," cried 
the weaver. In haste he took the necklace to the 
nearest goldsmith, and told him how he had found 
it. The goldsmith recognized it as one he had seen 
before. 

" Shall I tell you the owner ?" he asked. 

" Yes. I would gladly return it." 

The goldsmith said it belonged to the owner of the 
factory from which the weaver had been discharged. 

He took the necklace to his former employer. It was 
received with joy, for suspicion had fallen upon a ser- 
vant. The merchant was ashamed and touched. He 
had not forgotten the words uttered by the poor man 
when he was discharged. 

"Yes," he said. "The Lord helps. You shall 
not only go home richly rewarded, but you can re- 
turn to work. You shall henceforth be no more in 
need." — H. L. Hastings, Boston. 



42 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

Thus he who fed Elijah by the living ravens, fed this 
disciple by a dead one. — Tales of Trust. 



" The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger : but 
they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. 



JAMES R. PITCHER, 

New York. 

I do not see how any one who believes in the existence 
of a God at all can doubt the fact that he does take an 
interest in our temporal affairs, and that to over-rule 
them to our best good. 

Among the first requisites to real success in any form 
of business, if not the very first, are probity and recti- 
tude, and the man who does not observe these undeviat- 
ingly in the course of his business life must inevitably 
suffer as the result of such neglect of the laws on which 
the Creator has conditioned success. 

James R. Pitcher. 



NATHANIEL RIPLEY COBB. 

At Forest Hill Cemetery may be found this epitaph : 
" To Nathaniel Ripley Cobb. Died, May 22d, 1834, 
aged thirty-six, who during a mercantile career of twelve 
years dispensed upward of $40,000." 

This was the man who, at twenty-five years of age, 
wrote these words : 

" By the grace of God, I will never be worth more 
than $50,000. I will give one fourth of the net profits 
of my business to charitable and religious uses. If I am 
ever worth $20,000, I will give one half my net profits. 
If I am ever worth $30,000, I will give three fourths, 
and the whole after $50,000. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 43 

" So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward 
and set me aside. 

N. R. Cobb." 
November, 1821. 

This was the man who said on his dying bed : "I 
have been active and busy. God lias prospered me. 
My hope in Christ is worth infinitely more than all 
other things." 

His example was imitated. The publisher of a re- 
ligious paper, at Richmond, Va., received a letter as 
follows : " About ten years ago I read of the resolution 
of Mr. Cobb. I determined to follow his plan. En- 
closed find draft for $500 for missions." 

Another merchant says : " It is now several years since 
I adopted this plan. Under it I have acquired a hand- 
some capital, and have been prospered beyond my most 
sanguine expectations. Although constantly giving, I 
have never yet touched the bottom of the fund. Some- 
times my own part proved inadequate to my support, 
but the tide has soon turned, and 1 have recognized a 
helping hand more than making good all past de- 
ficiencies." 



" He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord, 
and that which he hath given will he pay him again." 



PROFESSOR J. MARK BALDWIN. 

Although I am not a business man in any commercial 
sense, yet as far as my experience goes it gives me 
pleasure to say that God does help the Christian in busi- 
ness. 

Providence is to me a practical working factor in 
every-day affairs. 

J. Make Baldwin. 



44 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

Said a blasphemous and infidel farmer to a devout 
man : "I have raised as large a crop of corn this year 
as you have." 

<; Yes," was the reply. " But God does not always 
make up his accounts the first day of September." 



KEY. J. C. ALLEN, 
Pastor Hanson Place Baptist Church, Brooklyn, ~N. Y. 

Case 1. — A prominent business man in New York, 
for years a liberal giver and advocate thereof, bought a 
controlling interest in a leading enterprise, incurring 
thereby a debt of $250,000. Soon after he subscribed 
several thousand dollars toward paying the debt of his 
church, and trusted God to furnish the means. By the 
divine blessing the subscription was paid, and in about 
two years the entire personal debt. 

Case 2. — A gentleman in Elizabeth, N. J., made a 
large subscription to his church debt, and had a very 
prosperous term of years succeeding. On one occasion 
he said in grateful acknowledgment, " Pastor, last week 
I did the biggest business I ever did in my life." 

Case 3. — Another man, an honored deacon in the 
same church, gave largely to the same object, and just 
after making the first payment, received money on a 
long-supposed worthless stock, and said, " The Lord 
pays interest promptly." Again he gave liberally to 
Home Missions, and the next day made $100 in an un- 
expected way. Meeting his pastor on Broadway, the 
fact was gratefully stated, and $10 added to the contribu- 
tion for missions. This good man has said repeatedly, 
" I have never made a gift of money to God's cause, but 
that he has soon more than repaid it in some unex- 
pected way." 

Case 4. — A member of Hanson Place Church prom- 
ised in advance $1000 toward the debt. Soon after his 
pastor asked him to make it $1500. 

He quickly replied, " I'll do that, for since 1 prom- 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 45 

ised the $1000, I have made a contract with a man of 
whom I never heard before, by which I shall make 
$1500 outside my regular business. It is the Lord's 
doing, and I will cheerfully give the money to him." 

Case 5. — The writer's parents began by giving ten per 
cent regularly every year, and, as profits grew, increased 
the rate until they gave twenty per cent and sometimes 
more. It is their grateful testimony that the more they 
gave to God, the more he gave to them. 

J. C. Allen. 



" Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the 
first fruits of all thy increase. So shall thy barns be filled 
with plenty, and thy presses shall burst forth with new 
wine." 



EVERETT P. WHEELER. 

The true Christian has the most powerful of all motives 
— the love of God — and this gives him energy and 
courage in business as in everything else. His life is 
earnest, and, therefore, effective. 

E. P. Wheeler. 



A BOY'S TESTIMONY. 

When walking up Yarborough Road the other day, 
my attention was arrested by a boy singing, " Glory to 
God." He was apparently about twelve or thirteen 
years of age ; his dress was poor ; his pale face bore 
the appearance of his having suffered want. 

Accosting him, I said : " Hallo, boy, what are you 
shouting ' Glory ' for ?" 

" 'Cause I'm happy, sir !" 

" Happy !" I said. " What do you mean V 

" I gave my heart to God, sir, and I'm happy. I 
was a great sinner ; but Jesus died on the cross for me ; 
his blood washed away all my sin, and now I'm happy." 



46 GOD IX BUSINESS. 

His earnest, simple faith was very touching ; I felt 
my eyes getting moist. I asked him how long he had 
been happy. 

" Only a month," he said. 

" Where were you converted ?" 

" In the Lake-Road Mission Hall." 

" That is where Mrs. Booth preaches ?" 

"Yes; I gave myself up to God there one night, 
and I am happy since, and I don't want for anything 
now. I pray to God, and he sends me jobs." 

" "What business are you in, my boy ?" I asked. 

" I ain't in no regular business," he said ; " I'm an 
errand boy ; I have no regular work, but I pray to God, 
and he sends me jobs. I have no job to-day yet, but 
God will send me one. I never want now." 

It was very touching to hear his simple but strong 
faith and trust in God. " Bread enough and to spare," 
was his testimony of the Father's house. — Words of 
Life. 



" The Lord is my Shepherd ; I shall not want." 



ESTHER B. TUTTLE. 

A rich merchant, who was supporting several mission- 
aries in India, was asked how he could do it. He re- 
plied : " At my conversion I promised to give away a 
certain part of what my business brought in, and every 
year it has brought me in about double what it did the 
year before, so I keep multiplying my gifts to Christ's 
cause." This testimony could be duplicated in scores 
of instances. 

I knew of a gentleman who was dependent upon a 
salary, and was singularly unfortunate in losing his posi- 
tions. Finally he gave into the hands of his wife the 
management of the household expenses. She began the 
practice of systematic giving ; the tithe was faithfully 
laid by, and such free-will offerings were added as she 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 



could by economy save from the remainder. Immedi- 
ately the tide of fortune turned. In place of the hus- 
band losing his positions, he began to be promoted, and 
has gone steadily forward ever since. Now and then 
the wife goes to him and says : " Ned, you may expect 
another promotion, I am going to give again." 



WILLIAM F. HILLS, 
President Young Men's Christian Association, Lowell, 



The Lord has aided me in selling goods, in collecting 
bad debts, and in various details of business life. 

"When a boy, a few months after my conversion, I was 
sent to collect a bill of several hundred dollars. I real- 
ized that my age and lack of experience would surely 
give me no advantage over my older fellow-clerks who 
had failed in similar attempts, so 1 laid the matter before 
the Lord. I found the man in his stable, and when 
asked to settle the account, he replied, "Yes, come in 
the house and I will pay you." 

Among other bills collected was one of about twenty 
dollars. The account was several years old. After ask- 
ing the Lord for success, I presented the bill and the 
man said, " Well, I might as well pay it, I suppose." 
My employer was astonished to see the money, and the 
senior clerk in the store, who had several times presented 
the bill, asked me, "What did you say?" The clerk 
was not a Christian, and the question afforded an oppor- 
tunity to testify for the Lord. 

One morning we found ourselves unable to open the 
bank safe- vault. To obtain safe workmen from a neigh- 
boring city would involve considerable expense and a 
serious inconvenience to business for at least a day. We 
tried in every conceivable way to open the door, but it 
seemed to be a hopeless task, as the key was susceptible 
of several million changes. 

It was then made the subject of prayer, and the third 
change opened the door. William F. Hills. 



48 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

BUSINESS MEN'S TESTIMONIES 

Given at the John Street (New York) Business Men's 
Noonday Prayer- Meeting. 

" I am a truckman. God guides me in business. 
Yesterday I heard about a seven- dollar contract. I went 
to see about it. It had just been given out to the Erie 
Railroad. I said, ' Praise the Lord ! Perhaps the Erie 
Railroad needs seven dollars more than I do.' I hunted 
for another job. I found one. This one paid me fifty 
dollars. If I had taken the first one, I would not have 
found the second one. God is my partner. I did busi- 
ness without him for twenty years, and failed every two 
or three years. I have been doing business with him for 
twenty years, and have not failed once." 



" I can also testify of God's help in business. Some 
time ago while temporarily stopping in a small town I 
ran short of funds. I tried to borrow a few dollars, but 
was unsuccessful. Every person to whom I applied re- 
fused help. I took my case to the Lord. Immediately 
it flashed across my mind that a man who lived in that 
neighborhood owed me some money. I made inquiries, 
and learned that he would be in town the next day. I 
requested my informant to ask this man to call upon me. 
I went to the hotel and registered. I had not a dollar, 
but I had such confidence in God that I felt sure he 
would enable me to pay my hotel bill. The next day 
my debtor called. I told him 1 was greatly in need of 
money. 

" lie took out his purse and paid his debt with in- 
terest. 

" His promptitude was marvellous. I had formerly 
sued him and threatened him. It did no good. I took 
it to God, and the man paid his obligation." 



" I once sat in the gallery at a missionary meeting. 
The presiding officer said : ' We cannot pass the plate 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 4!) 

in the gallery. If any person upstairs wishes to con- 
tribute let him throw the money on the platform.' All 
the money I had was two Mexican silver dollars. I 
threw them down. It was noticed by the presiding 
minister, with whom 1 was slightly acquainted. A few 
days later this man offered me the agency for his new- 
book, which was about to be issued by Harpers. I ac- 
cepted it, and cleared one dollar on every book. Out 
of that two dollars given to the Lord, I made two hun- 
dred dollars." 



" Lost Saturday I had a note to meet. The night be- 
fore, knowing that I did not have enough money in the 
bank, I asked the Lord to send the money. I expected 
to find it in Saturday morning's mail. I opened my 
mail. The money was not there. I told my son to go 
to every one of my customers and do his best to collect 
some money. Before twelve o'clock my son came back 
with five hundred dollars — enough to pay the note. I 
mention this to show that God does not always answer 
us in the way we expect, and also to show that we must 
do our level best ourselves." 



r,i I am in business in this very street. Business being 
a little dull I have been thinking of moving. I asked 
God to give me a sign by which I would know if I had 
better go or stay. That very afternoon a gentleman 
came in looking for desk room. I rented to him a small 
space, for which he is paying me one third of my entire 
rent. God gave me an immediate answer." 



" Since I have become a Christian, my business has 
increased one hundred per cent." 



" People say, ' Christianity won't do for travelling 
men. To sell goods you must drink.' I want to deny 



50 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

that assertion. I'm a travelling man. Going from 
Maine to California. I sell goods without drinking. I 
must be a pretty fair salesman, for I get one of the larg- 
est salaries paid in the business. I can take Jesus Christ 
wherever I go, and I can sell more goods with him than 
without him." 

" The business which I entered when I became a 
Christian was one which ordinarily requires from twenty - 
rive to fifty thousand dollars. I asked God's help, and 
commenced with a capital of twenty-five cents. God 
has aided me, and my business is successful." 



" When 1 was converted I was in a business which 
was hardly proper for a Christian. I said : ' O Lord, 
I will give up this business if thou wilt give me another.' 
I seemed to hear an answer, l Give up your business 
first.' I thought this would be unwise— that it would 
be taking too great a risk. I repeated my prayer, ' I 
will give up my business if thou wilt give me another. ' 

" Give it up,' was the answer. 

" I gave it up. Then God in a marvellous manner 
opened up for me another business, and he has been 
with me ever since. It is safe to trust God in business." 



" One day it seemed to be my duty to leave my busi- 
ness and devote half a day to the effort to reclaim a poor 
fellow who had sunk deep into sin. The young man 
was induced to lead a better life. Subsequently through 
him I obtained over two hundred dollars' worth of new 
business. This was the direct result of my neglect of 
my business for Christ's sake. God is the best friend 
a business man can have." 



GOD 1ST BUSINESS. 51 

" On March 12th, 1888, while in the country, I was 
caught in the great blizzard. I thought I could reach 
home quicker by going across lots than by taking the 
road. As my long overcoat was heavy and clumsy, I 
thought I could get through the drifts better without it. 
So I took it off and carried it on my arm. I managed 
to get within a quarter of a mile of my house when I 
was compelled to stop. The snow was up to my waist. 
It was blowing and drifting upon me to such an extent 
as almost to suffocate me. I shouted, but it was no use. 
I was a long distance from the road. If persons had 
been searching for me, they would never have thought 
of looking for me in the middle of a held. I gave my- 
self up for lost. I felt that I was about to die. I was 
a professing Christian, and now, in my despair, I called 
upon my Maker : < O God. Help ! Help ! In the 
name of Jesus, help ! ' Just then it seemed as if I heard 
a voice saying, ' What is that in thine hand V 

" I looked in my hands. They were empty. Again 
came the voice, ' What is that in thine hand V 

"I looked again. Nothing there. I thought of the 
overcoat on my arm. 

" I heard, ' Spread it on the snow.' 

" I spread it on the snow in front of me. I laid 
down upon it. I found it would sustain my weight. 
I pushed and twisted and worked, and I found I was 
working myself ahead. 

" In a short time 1 had worked myself out of the drift 
on top of my overcoat. A snow-shoe ! 

" I reached home almost exhausted, but calling my 
family around me, 1 told them how God had delivered 
me. How he told me to turn an overcoat into a snow- 
shoe and saved my life. 

" This incident made such a profound impression upon 
me, that I resolved to give up my business and preach 
throughout the land the goodness of God. My five sons 
are going to join me. We all intend to be preachers.'" 

"A friend of mine relates this incident :" 

" ' I was once a passenger on a coastwise steamer. 



q-Z GOD IN BUSINESS. 

We had a large passenger list and a very valuable 
cargo. A few days out from New York we became 
enveloped in a thick fog. For twelve hours we steamed 
slowly ahead. I went on deck. The captain said to 
me, ' I've lost my bearings. We cannot stop, and it is 
dangerous to go ahead.' We stood there peering into 
the fog, when 'it began to lift a little. It became clearer 
and clearer when suddenly we saw before us the outlines 
of a great black rock. We were headed directly for it. 
The captain shouted, and the ship's prow was turned to 
the right, and we sailed out into a clear, open space. 
Then the fog settled down again, and so continued all 
the day. If the fog had not lifted just as it did, we 
should" have inevitably been wrecked. The captain, 
worldly man as he was, recognized the marvellous de- 
liverance, for as we passed the rock he said to me, as 
the tears stood in his eyes, ' Somebody is praying for 
us: ' Yes, captain,' said I, ' two of my friends have 
been in the cabin praying for two hours for the safety 
of this ship. Let us go down and thank God for his 
wonderful deliverance. 



5 55 



" A few weeks ago I entered a competitive match for a 
prize. I asked God to inspire me to write acceptably. 
I am sure he did, for it was a better written article than 
I had ever before produced. That was my opinion. 
That was the opinion of all my friends. It won the 
prize of a thousand dollars ! When my friends con- 
gratulate me and say, ' I'm glad to hear of your good 
fortune,' I say to them, ' The Lord helped me.' 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 53 

Z. STILES ELY, 

New York. 

In reply to your request for any facts in my experi- 
ence tending to show " that God assists those who trust 
him," I beg to say that in a business experience of 
forty years, I have felt that whatever success I may have 
had, I owed to hitn. In several commercial crises 
through which the country has passed during that time, 
assistance has come (sometimes from unexpected quar- 
ters) in answer to prayers— not of my own, perhaps, 
but of those deeply interested in me. This, I presume, 
is not an uncommon experience, but is shared by many. 

Z. Stiles Ely. 



JOHN HOWARD, 
Founder of the Britannia Iron Works, Bedford, Eng. 

This remarkable man was born at Bedford, in 1781. 
On completing his apprenticeship he went to Henley, 
on Thames, to work for a Quaker. Out of his two 
years' wages he saved £60, and with this amount began 
business in 1813. He was a faithful servant of the 
Lord, and God greatly blessed him in business. He 
finally founded the Britannia Iron Works at Bedford. 
These works occupy 20 acres. In one room (the paint- 
ing room) congregations of 3000 persons have assembled 
to hear the Gospel preached by Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. 

On other occasions 4000 children have assembled in 
the same room at the Juvenile meetings of the British 
and Foreign Bible Society. 

Probably no other establishment of its kind in England 
has been visited by so many noblemen, judges, and 
statesmen. The renowned Garibaldi planted a tree in 
front of the quadrangle to commemorate his visit to 
these works in 1864. 

John Howard for four years in succession was elected 
mayor. His interest in all philanthropic work was keen 
to the end of life. To-day the magnificent Britannia 



54 GOD IX BUSINESS. 

"Works at Bedford, England, bear silent testimony to 
the fact that God helps a Christian in business. 



" Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who feared God, joined 
himself with Ahaziah, a wicked king of Israel, in trade, f 
became his partner in a fleet bound for Opliir. As the 
fleet was passing out of the harbor of Eziongeber a 
storm, which God sent to punish this confederacy, 
drove them upon the rocks and they were lost. Jehosha- 
phat then sent out another fleet on his own account and 
was successful." 

A Christian is often handicapped by a godless part- 
ner. The solution is dissolution. 



GEORGE HAGUE, 

Montreal, Canada. 

As a man of business, I gladly testify to the reality of 
divine help. The Word of God, and especially the 
Book of Psalms, is a storehouse of experiences of great 
aid to those who are distressed by the cares of business. 
To the man who trusts in God, and has committed his 
soul into his keeping, the divine word is a teacher, 
guide, friend, and comforter. It strengthens him in 
times of weakness, lifts him up, braces his energies, and 
brings him out more than conqueror. 

In my own case, I can honestly declare that I could 
not possibly have carried many weighty matters to a, 
successful conclusion as I did if it had not been for di- 
vine help. I can sum up my life's experience in the 
words : " Having obtained help of God, I continue un- 
to this day." 

George Hague. 



A LESSOX OF FAITH. 

Among the officers of a church in New England, of 
which the writer was pastor, some years ago, was Deacon 



GOD IX BUSINESS. 00 

C . For years of his Christian life, lie had frugally 

maintained his little family on a portion of his moderate 
salary. The remainder he had sacredly devoted to 
Christian uses. He was a systematic beneficence so- 
ciety in efficient working order. As a consequence, 
while his living was on a modest scale, his giving was 
done in princely style. From his charities you would 
have supposed him to be a millionaire. He did a larger 
business for the world's welfare, with the Lord as " silent 
partner," and on a smaller capital, than any other man 
1 ever knew. 

There was much querying over this bold policy of 

Deacon C . It seemed like suicidal folly to live 

Avithno provision for the future. The young men in his 
Bible class used to ask, " Now, Deacon, would you ad- 
vise us to go on in your style, spending or giving every 
dollar, and never taking death or old age into account ? " 
" Why," he would answer, " ' according to your faith 
be it unto you.' Can you enjoy this kind of life ? That 
is the question. Can you rest on God, with nothing else 
on which to rest, as you would on $50,000 worth of 
bonds ? Can you believe, clear down to the bottom of 
your soul, and without a quiver of doubt, that the Lord 
will take care of you ? If you can, then do it, and God 
will bless you in it. But if you are going into this way 
of living as you would into a lion's cage, trembling all 
over ; if you see nothing but starvation at the end of it ; 
if you are to be scourged into it by the lash of conscience 
— to have no peace or joy or liberty in it — then I advise 
you not to make the venture." 

And there were few or none who did make the ven- 
ture. The question often went from mouth to mouth, 
" How will the deacon come out with his experiment ? 
How will it strike him when too old to work ?" 

I removed from the town while Deacon C was in 

the prime of his powers. 

Years passed on, and I heard nothing of him or his 
fortunes. But at last, shortly after his death, came a 
letter from an excellent lady, in the same church, which 
read substantial] v as follows : 



56 GOD IN" BUSINESS. 

" By the way, it will interest you to know how Deacon 

C came out at last with his life of faith. Some two 

years before his death he was struck with paralysis, and 
rendered helpless. The E Company (a large corpo- 
ration in whose service he w r as) esteemed him so highly 
that, for a year, they continued his salary. Then it fell 
off to half-pay for about the same period. At last his 
income ceased altogether. But his cheerfulness never 
abated ; his confidence that God would provide for him 
never seemed clouded. He was brought finally to his 
last hundred dollars, when the time arrived for his an- 
nual contribution to the American Board. ^Without 
hesitation he divided the amount with the Lord, giving 
$50 to the cause of missions. So matters stood when an 
aged aunt of his, who had died suddenly, was found to 
have left him $11,000, which provided for him through 
the remainder of his life." — 8. S. Times. 



He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack." 



W. I. MIDLER, 
Chicago, 111. 

There came to me, at the time of my lowest pros- 
perity in worldly affairs, a desire to honor God with a 
portion of my substance. I had been unsuccessful in 
business, practically lost every dollar, and without 
money and with wife and child I landed in a strange 
city. 

I need not detail my struggles. I was altogether cast 
upon the Lord, whom I had learned to know and serve 
some years before. After many defeats, I secured em- 
ployment that paid me $6 a week, and out of this I 
prayerfully resolved to set apart one tenth, or sixty cents 
per week, for the Lord. The first payment out of this, 
the Lord's money, was made to the cause of Foreign 
Missions and the second to help forward a church in a 
distant city. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 57 

Daring the years that have passed since then it has 
been my privilege, as a steward of God's bounty, to dis- 
pense hundreds of dollars. N"o one who has not tried it 
knows how much easier it is to give systematically than 
spasmodically. If " he gives twice who gives quickly," 
then certainly I have expended more than I know, for 
I have experienced something of what is meant by the 
Master, who said, "It is more blessed to give than to 
receive." If the Prodigal's father could say to his son, 
" All that I have is thine," certainly I know that all I 
have received is of the Lord. 

As to the temporal blessings which follow upon such 
a course of giving, while that is placing giving on its 
lowest plane", yet, as God has said, " They that honor 
me I will honor," and since we can honor God by our 
substance, certainly he does bless such giving. In my 
case, I have never lacked any good thing, and though 
called upon to pass through the deep waters of affliction, 
yet through all God has delivered me and brought me to 
"wait for his Son from heaven" while " diligent in 
business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 

W. I. Midler. 

HON. THOMAS B. PEDDIE. 

BY REV. W. W. BOYD, D.D. 

He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, February 12th, 
1808. His father, a Baptist " exhorter," working at 
trunk-making during the week and preaching on Sun- 
days, died in 1832, leaving in moderate circumstances a 
wife and six children, whose support depended mainly 
upon Thomas. Seeing little chance in Scotland of earn- 
ing a living for so many dependent ones, and hearing of 
America as the land of opportunity, he came here in 
1833, and, after studying the advantages offered by sev- 
eral towns, concluded to make Newark his home. Eor 
two years he worked at the bench in a saddlery estab- 
lishment, and then began, in a basement on Broad 
Street, to manufacture trunks, not having, as he said, 
enough money to pay for the iron on his first trunk. 



58 GOD I> r BUSINESS. 

"When he died, his manufactory and warehouses covered 
nearly a block, his operatives were numbered by hun- 
dreds, and his name stood at the head of this branch of 
industry in the United States. 

Besides giving close attention to his great business, 
Mr. Peddie was always active in public affairs. He was 
a member of the Assembly in 1863 and 1864, mayor of 
the city for four years from 1866, and a member of the 
Forty Fifth Congress. He helped to found the Essex Na- 
tional Bank, and was its vice-president ; he founded the 
Security Savings Bank, and has been its only president ; 
he was president of the Board of Trade, manager of va- 
rious city institutions, and director in insurance compa- 
nies and charitable organizations. No man was busier 
than he ; none more faithful to every duty ; none more 
esteemed by the citizens of Newark. 

When we laid the corner-stone of our spacious and 
noble church edifice, the money for which was given by 
Mr. Peddie, he said to me, " Now, don't mention my 
name in this service, but pass me by." After the ser- 
vice was over, we walked down Broad Street together, 
and he said to me, " I don't think that you or any of 
the others quite understand me in this gift." "How 
so?" I asked. He replied, "Think of it, I came to 
this city a poor young man. See where I am now ! 
Look at my happy home ! Think how many friends I 
have. Everything I've touched has seemed to prosper. 
Now, I believe that all this prosperity has come to me 
from God, and I owe all my religious convictions to the 
fellowship I have enjoyed all these years in the First 
Baptist Church." Then pausing and turning abruptly 
to me he said with great emphasis, " I am building this 
church simply to express my gratitude to God.'"' — Ex- 
aminer. 

EUSSELL W. McKEE, 

New York. 

The injunction to be "not slothful in business, fer- 
vent in spirit, serving the Lord," has been a threefold 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 59 

cord of help and comfort to me. I believe it to be 
" the true life in earnest." I know from personal ex- 
perience that one can be diligent in business and serve 
the Lord, but he must commit his business wa} r s to the 
Lord, and believe that even his thoughts concerning 
them will be established. Unless we do this, we give 
but a small portion of time or thought to God. Our 
business working hours occupy so large a portion of our 
lives, that we must make him, as it were, "the silent 
Partner," consulting with, and laying on him our cares 
and anxieties, and doing all in his name and for his sake. 

Russell W. McKee. 



CLINTON L. ROSSITER, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

I certainly think and know that God does assist the 
Christian in business. 

I have always been in the habit of taking my business 
matters to him, and in many, if not all instances, I 
have received direct and immediate answer. 

I am very glad to be able to attest to it. 

C. L. Rossiter. 

A CONSECRATED TEN-DOLLAR BILL. 

A clergyman in New York has a ten-dollar bill with re- 
markable associations. It was given to him in Vesey 
Street on July 28th last to use in the Lord's work. 
Eight years ago, in the same place, he met an old friend 
whom he had not seen for many years. They had been 
employed in business houses in the city, but the clergy- 
man's friend had inherited a considerable sum of money 
and had given up his situation to attend to the invest- 
ment of his fortune. When they met in 1880, they in- 
quired of each other as to the results of the years which 
had elapsed since they separated. The man who had 
inherited the fortune said that he had bought property, 
but had given too much for it. Other losses had com- 
pelled him to mortgage it heavily. The interest on the 



60 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

mortgage was in arrears, and foreclosure was threatened. 
He could not sell the property, and was intensely miser- 
able. He had been trying to get work but had failed. 
Coming over the ferry that morning, he was strongly 
tempted to throw himself overboard. 

The clergyman then related his history during the 
past years. He told how he had been brought to God 
and used in his His service. Then, encouraging his 
friend, he said, " You must give yourself to Jesus — you 
and your wife. Do not think of the awful crime of sui- 
cide. Go to God for mercy, and all will come right." 
A time was appointed for special prayer together, and 
eventually both the man and his wife were saved. Pray- 
er was offered about the money trouble also. On the 
same night, a messenger came to the despairing man, 
requesting him to call at the Erie shops. He did so, and 
was taken on at £5 a day to start with, and his immedi- 
ate wants were thus relieved. The property, however, 
was still in danger of foreclosure, and prayer was offered 
about that. When the two friends met in 7esey Street, 
last July, the man joyfully produced a roll of bills. 
11 The value of that property is going up fast," he said. 
" I have sold one lot, and I am coming out right." He 
took one ten-dollar bill and handed it to his friend. "That 
is part of the first-fruits," he said. " I want to give it 
to the Lord. He sent it in answer to prayer. I owe it 
all to him." — Christian HerahJ. 



We often issue a lengthy document of thanks, but fail 
to place thereon the golden seal which makes it legal. 



JOHN A. BLACK, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Does God assist the Christian in business ? Certainly 
he does. My whole life is an illustration of it. I 
have no other way of accounting for many things other- 
wise inexplicable. 

John A. Black. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. Gl 

STEPHEN MEREITT, 

New York. 

I am not a good witness on this line, for I would, in 
the eyes of most people, overdo the matter. God m 
business. That is where he is, where he should be, and 
followers of Jesus should engage in no avocation in 
which he in any way is left out. We are in co-partner- 
ship. (1 speak it reverently.) I do business for and 
with God. He has not a tenth, but all. I have him 
and all things. I give myself to him. He gives him- 
self to me. I cast on him my cares, and he giveth me 
his care. Whatsoever I do, I do it all for his glory. He 
takes charge. I trust and rejoice. Happy all the year. 
Never confounded, never put to shame. A miracle to 
myself, a marvel and mystery to others. Kept in per- 
fect peace. With a history of wonders in my business 
affairs. Sweetly led by the Holy Spirit. I could tell 
you by the hour of God's dealings in the temporal affairs 
of this life. Tell it only to his glory. Blessed be his 
name. God assists the Christian in business. Honor 
God with your substance, and he will honor you with 
his presence and wisdom and power. 

Stephen MERRrrr. 



Business men. Pause in thy march through life to 
place thy gifts upon the altar. The rising flame, like 
a pillar of fire, will go before thee into the Promised 
Land. 



LORD HELP ME. 



An old minister in Manchester, England, once preach- 
ed from the text, " Lord help me." Having read his 
text, he said to his congregation : " Before I was fully 
devoted to the ministry, I was in business. When 1 
gave up business and settled as a preacher, I was owing 
■several sums of money. One of my creditors, to whom 



62 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

1 owed £20, demanded his money. I said, " I will try to 
pay you Monday. Monday came, but I did not have the 
money. My creditor said, l You have no right to 
promise unless you can perform.' This aroused my 
pride. I told him I would pay him on the following 
Monday. He went away in a rage, saying he hoped I 
would. 

" The next day I tried to raise the £20 from those 
who owed me, but could not get a farthing. I then 
tried to borrow £20 from my friends. They all sym- 
pathized, but wouldn't lend. 

" I then tried to borrow the amount in five-pound sums. 
I did not get a penny. I began to ask myself, ' How is 
it, that I, a respectable man, and, as some say, a popular 
preacher, cannot borrow £20.' My pride got a terrible 
shake. 

" Friday came. I began to search for texts for Sun- 
day. I could find none, for I could think of nothing 
but £20. The whole of that day 1 was really miserable. 

" Saturday morning I arose from a sleepless bed. The 
day was spent as Friday has been. Twenty pounds was 
written all over the rooms. At evening I went to my 
study. I had three sermons to preach on Sunday, and no 
text. I fell on my knees and cried, I believe, a hundred 
times, 'Lord help me.' Then I felt an impression 
that these words might serve as a text. I began to pre- 
pare a sermon from those words. 

" While preaching Sunday morning many illustra- 
tions came to my mind. One was about a man who was 
a deacon of a church, and had been an executor for two 
orphan children. He was tempted to make use of the 
money, and much of it was lost. This so preyed on his 
mind that he took to drink. He lost his character, and 
died with the reputation of a rogue. N ow, I said, ' Had 
this man, when he first thought of taking the children's 
money, called on God to help him resist the temptation, 
he would probably be living to-day, loved and re- 
spected.' 

" Noon came. I preached from the same text, and 
again in the evening. I felt that I could have preached 



GOD IN" BUSINESS. C3 

from it for a week. After the evening service a young 
man asked to see me in private. He said, ' When my 
mother died she left two sums for me to distribute. 
One sum of £5 to a certain poor old woman, and speak- 
ing of you, she said, " Our minister needs help. Give 
him £20." 1 paid the £5 to the woman, but thinking 
no one knew, I resolved never to give you the £20. 
This morning, while you were speaking of the roguish 
executor, I felt conscience-stricken. 1 have brought you 
the £20. Here it is.' 

" I was thunderstruck. I trembled all over. I took 
the money, shook the young man's hand, and hurrying 
home spread the money out before my wife, saying, 
' Here it is. God has delivered me out of my trouble. 
I will trust and praise him as long as I live. 

" Friends, when that prayer, ' Lord help me,' comes 
from the heart of one of God's children, men, devils nor 
angels can tell its power. It has brought me thousands 
of blessings besides the £20." — Tales of Trust. 



" God is our refuge and strength, a very present help 
in trouble." 



C. W. SMITH, 
Aurora, 111. 

As truly as God is God, and has given us our facul- 
ties, just so truly will he assist us in the right use of 
these faculties. And if at times he, in wisdom, sees fit 
to thwart our plans, it is in order that a greater good 
may come to us, as in the case of Job. 

I have had a good deal to do with horses, some of 
them very dangerous to handle. I have committed my 
way unto the Lord, and he has wonderfully preserved 
me. I had a horse entrusted to my care which had 
given his owner much trouble by running away and 
breaking things badly. I was driving it, and the 
whiffletree bolt broke, and it flew with great force on the 



64 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

horse. The horse was much frightened, but stopped, 
and no harm was done. Again, when shutting a gate, 
the horse became frightened, and as 1 looked up, he was 
on a dead run. By God's special assistance, I was en- 
abled to overtake and bring him down. 

Another time I was away from home attending 
meeting. 

My horses were in a barn quite a distance from where 
I stayed at night. In the night a gentleman came and 
called me up and wished me to look after my horses, for 
a Godly woman in his house insisted upon his coming to 
inform me that my horses were in trouble. I went, and 
found one of my horses thrown down in a way that 
must soon have resulted in death. This woman knew 
nothing of the facts, but was impressed that something 
was wrong, although her home was a long way from the 
stable. 

On one occasion I was many miles from home. I 
supposed I had money enough for my necessary expenses, 
but in offering a ten-dollar bill it was declared to be a 
counterfeit. Several business men said they would not 
have hesitated to take it. But I, fearing God, could not 
pass it. I took a pen and wrote across the face of the 
bill "Counterfeit." But how should I get along ? 1 
needed just that $10 to take me home. I stopped 
in Janesville, Wis., and was invited to preach in the 
Y. M. C. A. Hall. Some one unknown to me took up a 
collection, and besides the usual small change found in 
the hat at such times, there was a genuine ten-dollar bill. 

I do not preach for money, and never asked for a 
contribution for myself. If one cannot see the hand of 
God in thus rewarding right doing, and trust in him, he 
must be void of discernment. Again, my home was 
mortgaged to a business man for $1600. I felt uneasy 
about it, but committed my way unto the Lord. One 
of his children came to me unsolicited and handed me 
$1600, saying, " Go and pay that mortgage, and I will 
take your note for ten years without. security." The 
Lord enabled me to pay him inside of two years. 

But why enlarge ? 



GOD IN BUSINESS. G5 

" He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him 
np for ns all, how shall he not with him also freely give 
us all things ?" " And if ye, being evil, know how to 
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall 
your Father which is in heaven give good things to them 
that ask him V 

C. W. Smith. 

A. IT. BRUMMELL, 

N"ew York. 

I can most emphatically say God does assist the Chris- 
tian in business. I think, also, the help he gives depends 
greatly on the man himself, for I verily believe, " God 
helps the man who helps himself." Further than this, 
the Scripture says : " In all thy ways acknowledge him, 
and he shall direct thy paths." Also, " They that hon- 
or me, I will honor." It seems to me these words 
ought to be enough for any Christian man to build a 
fortune on. 

A. H. Brummell. 



JOHN G. SEEGER, 

Buffalo, N. Y. 

Without God I can do nothing. "With him all things 
are possible. When twelve years of age I was obliged 
to go to work on a farm. I was wonderfully blessed 
with good friends and health. When sixteen I com- 
menced to learn a trade. At twenty-three I was in- 
stalled as foreman in one of the largest stores in this 
city. Now, in my own business, God is aiding and 
blessing me. I am sure he will not let his people suffer. 

John G. Seegek. 



" HAYE YOU TRIED THE GOD OF ISRAEL ?" 

Several years ago the cotton mills in a certain part of 
England were closed for lack of cotton. An operative 



66 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

having expended all that he had laid up, said to him- 
self, " I have done everything I could ; there is noth- 
ing left but to die," and, with that intent, set out one 
bright Sunday morning for the river, to drown himself 
in its sparkling waters. 

Before he reached the river, however, he fell in with 
a crowd of church-going people, and half-unconsciously, 
perhaps, drifted with them into a church. The minis- 
ter's text was Isa. 41 : 17. " When the poor and needy 
seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth 
for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of 
Israel will not forsake them," and the application was, 
" Have you tried the God of Israel ?" This was a home 
thrust to our discouraged operative, and he said to him- 
self, " No ! that is one thing I have not done, I will go 
home and try him." On reaching home he said, 
" Wife, we have never tried the God of Israel ! I am 
going to try him now. Bring me the Bible." She re- 
plied that it was pawned long ago, but after a diligent 
search she found a few leaves which he read to his wife 
and children, and then committed his case to the God of 
Israel. No dinner came, however, and they went snp- 
perless to bed, and rose in the morning with no prospect 
for breakfast, but waiting on the God of Israel. In due 
time the postman came along the street, stopped at our 
friend's house and left him a letter, the contents of 
which were substantially as follows : " John, Messrs. 

, such a street and number, want a hand, and I 

think you are just the man for them. Here is a £5 
note for you ; get yourself ready and go and make ap- 
plication." No time was lost in getting breakfast, and 
iinding the parties in question. His application Mas 
successful ; the God of Israel had appeared on the 
scene and taken, charge of matters committed to him, 
and all things went well. It was not long before our 
friend was foreman of the establishment ; in a few years 
one of the partners died and he was enabled to buy out 
the interest. In course of time the other partner died, 
and John had the means at hand for the purchase of his 
interest, so the whole property was his. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 67 

Some twenty years, more or less, had passed when the 
minister, whose sermon gave such an unexpected turn to 
John's affairs, was taking a walk one afternoon and was 
joined by a stranger, who asked permission to keep him 
company, which was readily granted. After walking 
awhile the stranger stopped in front of a stately mansion, 
remarked that it was his residence, and invited the min- 
ister to walk in and rest himself. After chatting a few 
moments he proposed to show his visitor about the 
premises, which, being done, and returning to the parlor, 
our old friend John, for it was no other, said : " Per- 
haps, sir, my conduct strikes you as somewhat extraordi- 
nary, so permit me to explain. Do you remember 
preaching a sermon on a certain day, (giving time and 
place), taking Isa. 41 : 17, for your text, and do you 
remember the application, ' Have you tried the God of 
Israel V " He then related the circumstances as above 
given, and added : " On overtaking you this afternoon, 
sir, the desire possessed me to show you at least one of 
the fruits of your discourse, and what came of trying the 
God of Israel. He has never forsaken me since that 
first day, when, at your instance, I put his faithfulness 
to the test, and truly none that put their trust in him 
shall ever be ashamed." 



CHARLES E. COPP, 

Lawrence, Mass. 

Surely amid the trials of business is just where a man 
needs God's assistance if anywhere. A man with God 
to keep him sweet-tempered all the week, could almost 
seem to get along without God on Sunday, except in 
divine service, so great is the change in circumstances 
of trial and temptation. As we clash through the dan- 
gerous cuts of life, I would have God as the engineer, 
with his hand on the throttle. I would help him by 
throwing in coal. Men have separated business from 
God, until it is said, " Business is business, and religion 
is religion." Man's business is to do God's business. 



68 GOD IX BUSINESS. 

An account must be rendered some day. If men had the 
fear of God before their eyes, and realized his presence 
in the store, shop, and counting-room, what an increase 
would the Lord receive in the division of the profits. 
" Will a man rob God ?" 

I am doing successfully what I once thought I could 
not do at all— running a large railroad shop as a Chris- 
tian ; having thirty-five to forty men to oversee ; keep- 
ing their time by the week on several kinds of work ; 
ordering all material ; accounting for it ; keeping a rec- 
ord of all work done, and with no clerk. 

If there was more Christ and less rum on railroads 
generally, there would be a better showing on dividend 
day. 

Charles E. Copp. 



H. vY. HUBBAED, 

New York. 

" The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the 
heart." Business methods in accord with God's law help 
not hinder success. 

H. "W. Hubbard. 



RE\ r . SAM. JONES. 

Extract from a sermon entitled Double Compensation. 

" Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope ; 
even to-day do I declare I wiil render double unto 
thee." (Zech. 9 : 12.) I do believe, brothers, that 
religion is profitable unto all things, having promise of 
the life that now is and everlasting life in the world to 
come. I am one who believes that God does not rob us 
of everything before he can give us heaven. I believe 
that if I shall do and suffer the will of God in this world, 
I shall have the best that this world can give, as well as 
the richest blessing at last that heaven can bestow. I am 
not one of those who believe that if we become relig- 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 69 

ious, that we are shut off from all enjoyment, and that 
we must hang our harps on the willows, and sing no 
more songs of gladness and have no more hours of pleas- 
ure. Thank God for the offers which Christianity gives 
to man. 

" I will render double — double — unto thee." I nev- 
er read that expression that I do not think of an incident 
a preacher told me of. lie said there was a young man 
at the altar persistently seeking Christ fur several ser- 
vices, and he approached the young man one morning 
after service, and said to him : " My young brother, 
you are in earnest, what is your trouble ? Tell me all 
your trouble." " Well," said the young man, " I am 
in earnest ; I would give all the world for peace. I have 
been seeking religion, as you know, since the meeting 
commenced, and every time I go to the altar to beg for 
mercy, or kneel at home to pray — you know I am a clerk 
in a grocery store that sells provisions and liquor by the 
quart and gallon — and whenever I go down on my knees 
before God those quart cups, and gallon cups, and barrels 
come up before my eyes, and I cannot pray, and I can- 
not do anything, and I don't know what to do." 

" Well," said the preacher, " my young brother, give 
up your place and come from among those things." 

" Well," said he, " I have thought about that, but I 
have a widowed mother and two orphaned sisters that 
are dependent upon me for every bite they eat — they 
are dependent upon me and my salary, and if I quit my 
place my mother and sisters will starve ; but I am afraid 
if I hold on to' my place I cannot be saved." 

" Well," said the preacher, " trust God. He says 
he will render double. Trust God. Give up your 
employment and give yourself to Christ." 

The young man went to his employer that evening 
and stated the case fairly to them, as he had stated it to 
the preacher. He said, " Gentlemen, you have been 
good and kind to me, but I must give up my employ- 
ment ; I must do it or I lose my soul. " They paid him 
up. They settled up with him, and they said, " We are 
sorry to give you up ; you have been a worthy, noble 



»U GOD IN BUSINESS. 

young man, and have done your duty well ; we bate to 
give you up, but we cannot give up tbat part of our 
business, for there is where the money is.'" And the 
young man went borne, ate bis supper and came back to 
church tbat night, and at the altar was graciously blessed 
and converted. He went home and spent a happy 
night, with the breezes of heaven playing over his soul. 

The next morning before he left the house, after 
breakfast, be received a note from bis old employers, 
saying, ' ; Call at our office this morning ; we want to 
see you." Later in the morning he walked down to the 
office, and walked into the counting-room. The old 
senior member of the firm took his hand and said to 
him : " I am glad to shake your hand again in my store ; 
come and walk with me into the liquor-room." And he 
walked with him into the liquor-room. Every ban el 
was rolled out, and the floor swept up. And he said, 
" Young man, we have rolled out that part of our busi- 
ness, and we are done with it forever ; and we will give 
you double your old salary if you will come back aud 
take your former place." 

" I will render double unto thee." Brother, God does 
not rob men. God does not take all you have here and 
thrust you into a dark dungeon and keep you there until 
you die ; but God only takes tbat which offends him 
and harms you and would damn you at last, bursts every 
shackle of sin from your limbs, and lets you walk the 
earth a free man of the Lord, and makes you feel in 
deed and in truth that you are his child and on your 
way to heaven. 



John Wesley, the great preacher, was a firm believer in 
the above promise : " I will render double unto thee." 

Once, while making his calls through the country with 
his servant, he stopped at the house of a poor widow. 
She was in deep distress. She bad just lost her only 
means of support — a cow. Mr. Wesley said to his ser- 
vant : " How much money have we T' 



GOD IN BUSINESS. ,1 

" Fifty dollars," was the reply. 

" Give it to this woman." 

In the morning they continued on their journey. At 
the next house at which thej r stopped Mr. Wesley was 
given $90. He called his servant and said : " John, 
God has returned the money we gave yesterday. But 
there seems to be a mistake. Did I not tell you to give 
that woman $50 ?" 

" Yes, sir." 

" Well, did you do it?" 

" No, sir ; I thought we might need some of it our- 
selves ; so I only gave her forty -five." 



R. D. DUNCAN, 

St. Joseph, Mo. 

I believe it to be a commendable act to set before the 
world proof of the fact that God blesses the Christian 
business man. 1 am confident he will aid any man in 
business who will commit his way unto him. Within 
the last two years 1 received a flattering offer to change 
my position. I asked God to direct me. I was impress- 
ed to stay where I was. Some of my business friends 
thought I was foolish. Subsequent developments proved 
to me that God was right, and my friends were wrong. 

R. D. Duncan. 



T. J. CRASE, 
Magnolia, Wis. 

Many times I have not known where money was 
coming from to meet my obligations, but in answer to 
prayer, in some way or other it has come. God will as- 
sist in business if we will trust him, and are consecrated 
with all that we have to him. 

T. J. Chase. 



72 GOD IN" BUSINESS. 

THE COWBOY EVANGELIST. 

George W. Rasure, Once a Lawless Desperado, Now 
Preaching the Gospel. 
From the Little Rock Gazette. 

George W. Rasure, the well-known reformed cowboy 
and desperado, is now travelling through the country j 
preaching the Gospel and dealing in stock. 

Many people in Little Rock will remember when he 
was here some seven years ago what a bad man he was. 
He left Little Rock in disgrace, having been arrested a 
number of times for being drunk and fighting. From 
Little Rock he went to Anna, Mo., where he got into a 
drunken row and killed a man. After leaving Missouri 
he returned to Kansas and gained a livelihood for a time 
by " breaking in " wild horses. Four years ago last 
September, after having been on a protracted drunken 
spree, he was taken dangerously ill in Wellington, Kan., 
and thought he was going to die. He was taken to the 
stable of his brother to die. He had been cast out by 
his people, and was not thought worthy to enter the 
house on account of his desperate character. Living in 
that stable, the teachings of his childhood and the pray- 
ers of his sisters and mother came to his mind, and for 
the first time in many years he prayed to God to be 
saved, and promised if his appetite for drink was de- 
stroyed he would devote his whole life to the service of 
God. He says his prayers were answered, and he began 
to get well and he was converted. He went back to 
Wellington, and worked in his brother's livery stable 
currying horses at 50 cents a day. After working there 
eight days he was taken sick. Upon his recovery he 
had just $1.50 in money. He paid $1 of it for a thirty- 
day option on a $25 lot' in Wellington. He sold the lot 
at 'a profit of $21 before the expiration of thirty days, 
and then he traded ponies and bought and sold some 
real estate, and from that time everything prospered 
with him. He says he has resolved to take God into all 
his transactions, and he has in the last four years accu- 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 73 

mulated $700,000 worth of property, and his income is 
$150 per day. 

" I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt boun- 
tifully with me." 



WILLIAM A. LAY, 

Cincinnati, October 7, 1887. 

My Heavenly Father is my " other partner " in my 
business. I consult with him. It is remarkable how I 
am relieved from the worry and anxiety so common to 
business men. 

Frequently when I desire to " think over a matter," 
it is really to consult with him, after which my way is 
clear. And unto him I render one tenth. I often 
think this order should be reversed, and I take the 
tenth. 

William A. Lay. 



D. L. MOODY. 

Mr. Moody tells of a beautiful answer to a prayer in 
a temporal matter. " I remember a child that lived 
with her parents in a small village. One day the news 
came that her father had joined the army. A few days 
later the landlord came to demand the rent. The mother 
told him she hadn't got it, and that her husband had 
gone into the army. He was a hard-hearted wretch, and 
he stormed, and said they must leave the house ; he 
wasn't going to have people who couldn't pay the rent. 

" After he was gone the mother threw herself into 
the arm-chair and began to weep bitterly. Her little 
girl, whom she had taught to pray in faith, came up to 
her and said, ' What makes you cry, mamma. I will 
pray to God to give us a little home, and won't he V The 
little child went into the next room and began to pray. 



74 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

The door was open and the mother could hear every 
word. - 

" ' O God, you have come and taken away father, and 
mamma has got no money, and the landlord will turn us 
out because we can't pay, and we will have to sit on the 
doorstep and mamma will catch cold. Give us a little 
home V Then she waited as if for an answer, and add- 
ed : ' "Won't you please, God V She came out of the 
room quite happy. 

" God heard the prayer of that little one. He touched 
the heart of the cruel landlord, and the mother has never 
paid any rent since." 



" In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto 
my God : he heard my voice out of his temple, and my 
cry came before him, even into his ears." 



In Farwell Hall, Chicago, Mr. Moody once said : " A 
short while ago 1 needed $500 for a church purpose. 
I had no idea where I could get the money, but I felt 
confident that if the Lord wanted me to have that money 
he would send it to me. One morning I felt impressed 
to take a railroad journey. I boarded the train. The 
conductor came along and asked for my ticket. I told 
him 1 had none. 

" ' Where are you going V 

" ' I don't know/ 

" 'Don't know?' 

" ' No.' I felt in my pocket, took out all the change 
I had and said, ' Take me as far as that money will 
carry me.' 

" In an hour or so the train stopped at a little station, 
and the conductor told me this was as far as my money 
would take me. I alighted. It was a place where I had 
never been before. I stood on the platform wondering 
what I should do, when a gentleman came up to me and 
said, ' Is this Mr. Moody V 



GOD IN BTSINES3. 75 

" 'Yes.' 

" ' Well, sir, I want you to take this money and use 
it for the Lord's work.' 

" I counted the money. There was just $500." 

" I called upon the Lord in distress : the jjord answered 
me, and set me in a large place. " 



E. A. BLACKMORE, 

London, Eng. 

I wish to tell you of our experience. For twenty 
years my mother has conducted a large establishment 
where invalid ladies are cared for. She has no means 
of support save what is derived from this source. I am 
associated with her in the enterprise, and we conduct it 
by means of prayer. Sometimes our numbers get very 
low. We then get new inmates by fervent prayer to 
our Heavenly Father. During the last summer our 
numbers decreased greatly, and we feared we would not 
be able to meet our expenses. Our Father heard our 
appeals, and our house is again nourishing. We not 
only fill our house by prayer, but we manage it in the 
same way. The Lord helps us when we have a difficult 
case to manage. Yesterday we had a very difficult case. 
I was almost in utter despair about it, but I gave it into 
the hands of my Father. The answer was given at 
once. To-day the care is greatly lightened. This is but 
, one out of many cases which I could recall proving 
God's help in business matters. 

E. A. Blackmore. 



Business men. Wouldn't it be wise sometimes to lift 
your eyes from your safe to your soul ? 

" I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that 
thou mayest be rich." 



7(j GOD IN BUSINESS. 

REV. A. C. JOHNSON, 

Castleton, Yt. 

Though a minister of the Gospel, and, perhaps, not a 
" business" man— yet seeking to make business of my 
Christian work— to 'the question 1 will say, I profoundly 
believe, and am greatly assured and comforted in the 
faith that God assists me in all my affairs ; equally m 
the temporal as in the spiritual. 

A. C. Johnson. 



KEY. JOHN BOYD. 

A young German lady, a native of Baden, consecrated 
her life to the Saviour. Her father, who was an infi- 
del, was exasperated by the change which came over the 
life of his daughter, and drove her from his home, 
threatening her with disinheritance. She had heard of 
opportunities for Christian work in New York, and was 
assisted financially in reaching our city through the 
kindness of an uncle. 

When she arrived here she was ignorant of the Jan- 
gua^e, and had no friends. Her money soon gave out, 
and the poor girl was at her wits' end to know what to 
do. It was in this extremity that she betook herself to 
prayer and fasting, and agonized with God during one 
whole night. , 

That same night her infidel father in Baden was vis- 
ited bv the Holy Spirit of conviction. His conscience 
was alarmed. He could find not rest. He awoke his 
wife and told her of his inward disquietude concerning 
their absent child. It was revealed to him that their 
daughter, who was in a far-off land, was in deep surler- 
ingand want. He told his wife that he must send _ a 
draft at once to Sophie, and though knowing nobody in 
New York with whom he could communicate, he had 
heard of a certain German newspaper, and he would im- 
mediately communicate with that paper by cablegram 
and letter. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 77 

A few days after the young German girl had spent 
that memorable night in prayer for deliverance, as she 
was passing along one of the public thoroughfares of the 
city, she saw a soiled newspaper that had been blown 
about the street. She picked it up, and noticed it was a 
German daily. A second glance revealed a notice which 
had direct reference to herself. It read as follows : 

" If Miss — — , of Baden, who lately left her home 
for New York, will call at the office of this paper, she 
will hear of something to her benefit," etc. The young 
lady hastened with beating heart and flushed face to the 
office, and there, to her surprise, found a letter of ex- 
traordinary affection and devotion from her father, and 
all the money she could possibly need for many days to 
come. 

The writer saw and conversed with the subject of the 
above sketch last night at an Evangelistic meeting ; and 
though speaking the English language imperfectly, she 
is, notwithstanding, used of God in bringing many 
souls to the Saviour. Her heart is filled with his praise 
and her face shines with his love. — N". Y. Witness. 



HON. JOHN FRENCH, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

From my youth 1 have professed to be a Christian, 
and have been in business nearly all my manhood life, 
and have been greatly comforted in the feeling that 
God was with me. 

I know that many ungodly men in business have had, 
and do have great prosperity, while many good men do 
not succeed in business ; nevertheless, I feel that I have 
been assisted by him who invited me to " seek first the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness," etc. 

I most emphatically answer your question with a 
" Yes " that 1 am willing the world shall hear. 

John French. 



wg GOD IN BUSINESS. 

WILLIAM H. DURFEE, 
North Scituate, R. I. 

God helps, provided a business man does by the 
Lord as he would by his earthly friends, i.e., ask for as- 
sistance, and then thank him for it when received. 

I think much of the anxious care of business men 
mio-ht be done away with if they would only honor God 
by^conducting their business upon principles in harmony 
with the principles of the Gospel, and looking to him lor 
ins blessing. If we take the experience of men as re- 
corded in the Bible, it seems to me we must be convinced 
that God takes no little interest in the business affairs ot 
his people. . ■ 

In Acts 7 : 9 we read the terse but significant state- 
ment, made by Stephen, of Joseph, " But God was with 
him" And 'in the tenth verse we read, And lie 
(Pharaoh) made him governor over Egypt and all his 

house." , . _ . . , . 

Of Daniel it is said : " So this Daniel prospered in 
the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Per- 
sian " It is not spoken of Daniel as the prophet, butot 
him in his business as the first of the three presidents 
who were to superintend the affairs of the kingdom. 

I am interested in the subject of God in business, 
and especially in the biblical treatment of it There is 
much that can be produced as evidence in the lives ot 
men of our day, hut I forbear giving any, for that to 
which I have referred is the Word of God and cannot be 
gainsaid by those who believe the Bible. 

William H. Dukfee. 

WILLIAM COLGATE, 

New York. 

There is a Christian league in this country, banded 

together to promote systematic giving. It brings every 

member into covenant to keep a strict account with the 

Lord, and to render him one tenth of the income. An 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 70 

annual report is made by each member, giving a state- 
ment of bis business and spiritual prosperity. The sec- 
retary recently told us that the results have been 
surprising even to most sanguine advocates of the tithing 
system ; that not only has the income of the missionary 
societies receiving the funds been greatly increased, but 
that, out of the six thousand entering into this league, 
all but two or three have reported greatly increased busi- 
ness prosperity. 

We give an instance from a well-known life. 

Many years ago a lad of sixteen years left home to 
seek his fortune. As he trudged along, he met an old 
neighbor, the captain of a canal-boat, and the following 
conversation took place, which changed the whole current 
of the boy's life : 

" Well, William, where are you going V 

" I don't know," he answered; "father is too poor 
to keep me at home any longer, and says I must now 
make a living for myself." 

" There's no trouble about that," said the captain. 
" Be sure you start right, and you'll get along finely.'' 

William told his friend that the only trade he knew 
anything about was soap and candle making, at which 
he had helped his father while at home. 

"Well," said the old man, " let me pray with you 
once more, and give you a little advice, and then I will 
let you go." 

They both kneeled down upon the tow-path ; the 
dear old man prayed earnestly for William, and then 
gave this advice : " Some one will soon be the leading 
soap-maker in New York, It can be you as well as any 
one. I hope it may. Be a good man ; give your heart 
to Christ ; give the Lord all that belongs to him of 
every dollar you earn ; make an honest soap ; give a 
full pound, and I am certain you will yet be a prosperous 
and rich man." 

When the boy arrived in the city, he found it hard to 
get work. Lonesome and far from home, he remem- 
bered his mother's words and the last words of the 
canal-boat captain. He was then led to " seek first the 



80 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

kingdom of God and his righteousness," and united 
with the church. He remembered his promise to the 
old captain, and the first dollar he earned brought up 
the question of the Lord's part. In the Bible he found 
that the Jews were commanded to give one tenth ; so 
he said, " If the Lord will take one tenth, I will give 
that." And so he did ; and ten cents of every dollar 
were sacred to the Lord. 

Having regular employment, he soon became a part- 
ner, and after a few years his partners died and William 
became the sole owner of the business. 

He now resolved to keep his promise to the old cap- 
tain ; he made an honest soap, gave a full pound, and 
instructed his book-keeper to open an account with the 
Lord, and carry one tenth of all his income to that ac- 
count. He prospered ; his business grew ; his family 
was blessed ; his soap sold and he grew rich faster than 
he had ever hoped. Pie then gave the Lord two tenths, 
and prospered more than ever ; then he gave three 
tenths, then four tenths, then live tenths. 

Pie educated his family, settled all his plans for life, 
and gave all his income to the Lord. He prospered 
more than ever. 

This is the story of Mr. William Colgate, who has 
given millions of dollars to the Lord's cause, and left a 
name that will never die. 

Rev. A. J. Gordon. 

" Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there 
may be meat in mine house, and prove me now here- 
with, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the 
windows of heaven, avid pour you out a blessing, that 
there shall not be room enough to receive it." 



R F. CUMMIXGS, 
Boston, Mass. 
I think it is a fact that is being recognized more and 
more by business men that God and religion should be 
carried into every-dav life. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 81 

I. never shall forget how I came to work in the Tract 
House. I was travelling for a large wholesale house, 
and having just married, the question looked me in the 
face, How can I be on the road ten months in the year 
and leave a wife ? That summer, on my vacation, I 
formed the acquaintance of a religions business man. 
I asked God before going to New York to help me 
secure a position where I should not be obliged to be 
away from home so much. 

The first person 1 met when selling goods was this 
gentleman that I met on my vacation. I told him how 
I was situated. Said he, " God must have sent me in 
here this morning, for you are just the man we want for 
our western branch of the Tract Society." 

I dropped my samples, called upon the Executive 
Committee, and was engaged at once. 1 have been in 
this work ever since — for fifteen or more years. 

1 sincerely believe that God should be in our business 
every day. 

R. F. Cummings. 



A NEW INDUSTRY. 

There was a young mechanic in Massachusetts who 
consecrated to the Lord a portion of his time and in- 
come. His wages were not large, but he gave out of 
his penury. One day he came home from his work 
quite cast down. His wife asked him the cause of the 
trouble. He answered, " I'm downhearted because I 
am so poor. I don't want money to be rich, but to do 
good with." The next day his wife said to him, 
" Husband, if you will get me 20 button moulds and 
a stick of twist, I'll see what I can do." Nearly all 
the buttons were imported at that time, and were quite 
expensive. This earnest Christian woman had taken an 
English button apart, examined its structure, and pro- 
posed to make a few. The work was well done, and the 
buttons were consigned to a Christian merchant in New 
Y 7 ork. An answer came, " Make as many as you 
choose. I'll sell all you make." 



82 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

The mechanic and his wife found their hands full of 
work ; machinery was bought, and soon the poor me- 
chanic became a millionaire. He poured out his wealth 
like water. Colleges, schools, and seminaries were built, 
placing the highest departments of education within the 
reach of the humblest. He admits to-day that all his 

Prosperity grew out of his earnest desire to honor the 
ord with his increase, and to consecrate his substance to 
the cause of religion. — Marvels of Prayer. 






" Give and it shall be given you. 



D. J. LAMBERT, 
Apponaug, R. I. 

God in business is a necessity. I pity the person who 
tries to do business without his aid. Several years ago 
I was told by a competitor that unless I would lie and 
cheat, I would never be successful. 1 determined to 
stand firm and trust God. He has not allowed me to 
suffer. My competitor has been obliged to abandon his 
business and seek employment elsewhere. I have had 
trials. Some have been blessings in disguise. Through- 
out all I have been able to say, " Thy will be done." 

Young people, give your hearts to God. We are 
told to " Seek first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 1 ' 
What more can you ask? A long life of prosperity 
here and eternal bliss hereafter ! 

D. J. Lambert. 



RICHARD L. EELLS. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

God helps, but our own blunders sometimes make it 
hard to see the hand that overrules all for our good. 

Richard L. Eells. 




GEORGE MULLEE. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 83 

GEORGE MULLER, 

Bristol, England. 

Does God send money ? 

Mr. George Miiller is known by reputation through- 
out Christendom. Everywhere his name is mentioned 
with admiration, and the narrative of his great work is 
read with wonder. While scientists are demonstrating 
to their own satisfaction that faith and prayer are without 
influence, and have no practical bearing on the affairs of 
daily life, Mr. Miiller is supporting, educating, and 
providing for more than two thousand orphan children 
without capital and without regular income, solely by 
those two despised means — faith and prayer. The Or- 
phanages have been built and paid for, and their in- 
mates have been provided for to this day without any 
application for human aid. 

Often has his faith been tried, and collapse seemed, 
humanly speaking, to stare him in the face ; but his faith 
has never wavered, and it has always received its reward. 

In May, 1832, accompanied by his friend and fellow- 
laborer from Devonshire, the late Henry Craik, he pro- 
ceeded to Bristol, England, took the oversight of two 
congregations, and began the great work which has long 
made his name famous, viz., the founding of the far- 
famed Orphanage which was established with the two- 
fold object of proving to the Church and the world that 
there was still a living God who heard and answered 
prayer, and next to promote the spiritual and temporal 
welfare of the orphans. Shutting himself up in his 
room he flung himself on the floor and prayed earnestly 
for several hours for divine guidance. 

Contributions of the most varied kinds and from the 
most unexpected quarters now began to flow in. One 
poor needlewoman was so convinced of the blessedness 
of the work, that she gave $500, part of a legacy of 
$2400 she had just received. Not content with this, 
she gave away in various sums the whole amount which 
had been left her, and continued to maintain herself by 
her needle until her death. 



84 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

In 1845 it became very desirable, from various causes, 
to erect suitable premises for the Orphanage. After Mr. 
Miiller had prayed about the matter for thirty-six days, 
a donation of $5000 was sent toward the undertaking, 
and shortly afterward a Christian architect in London 
offered to make the plans and superintend the building 
gratuitously. Thus encouraged, Mr. Miiller proceeded 
with the work, and received altogether for the building 
fund $78,920. The Orphan Home was intended to ac- 
commodate 300 children. The qualification for admit- 
tance was that the candidate must have lost both parents 
by death, the most destitute children taking the first 
vacancy. The children entered their new home in June, 
1849. 

So numerous did the applications for admission be- 
come, that Mr. Miiller felt called upon by God to ex- 
tend the work. He therefore proposed to build a home 
to accommodate TOO orphans. Before one seventh of 
the necessary amount had been obtained 356 applica- 
tions had been registered. Ultimately it was found best 
to erect two houses, for 400 and 450 children respec- 
tively, instead of one for TOO. Of the houses thus built, 
No. 2 was opened in November, 185T, and No. 3 in 
March, 18G2. So amply had the needs of the work been 
provided for, that when all the expenses of erecting 
and furnishing the second and third houses had been 
met, there was a balance of about $14,500 left on the 
building fund. Subsequently two other houses were 
erected, of which one was opened on November 5th, 
1868, and the other on January 6th, 1870. 

As in the earlier history of the work, the funds still 
sometimes sink to a sum not exceeding the amount re- 
quired for a single day's expenses, but the need is always 
met. 

"If," said Mr. Miiller, some time ago, "I say that 
during the last fifty-four years and nine months that 1 
have been a believer in the Lord Jesus, I have had 
thirty thousand answers to prayer, either in the same 
hour or the same day that the requests were made, 1 
should not go a particle too far." 






GOD IN BUSINESS. 85 

Following arc a few letters to Mr. Miiller, and ex- 
tracts from his diary : 

December 28th, 1869. — " Dear Sir: Please accept 
the enclosed £12 for the work in which you are en- 
gaged : £8 for furnishing the new Orphan Houses, if 
required ; if not, for the use of the orphans ; and £4 
for missions. 

" I think it right to tell you that it is now about seven 
years since we were induced to set aside a certain por- 
tion of our income for God's cause. We were then in 
very straitened circumstances, and we made up our 
minds to give a tenth. 2 he very next day our means 
were slightly increased, and went on doing so. We 
then gave a fourth. After a long time things seemed 
again to look dark. / say, seemed to look dark, for the 
event proved that we were not really any worse off than 
before ; but, by God's help, we said, we will wait pa- 
tiently ; perhaps God is only trying us. We did not 
give any less to his cause. And now he has placed us 
in a position of prosperity that we have never before en- 
joyed, and we are able to give a fourth of our income. 
It is indeed a blessed thing to trust in the Lord, and we 
are led to exclaim with the Psalmist, ' Bless the Lord, 
my soul, and forget not cdl his 'benefits.'' ' : 



August 26th, 1861.—" My dear Brother : It is now 
nearly fourteen years since I commenced business, and 
in looking back upon that time, I feel I have abundant 
cause for praising the Lord, for the many mercies be- 
stowed upon me, both temporal and spiritual. Soon 
after commencing business, I began to give for the 
Lord about five per cent, and I found he blessed me in 
the business, and prospered me, and then I gave ten per 
cent for the Lord's work. After this 1 felt so happy in 
my soul, and constrained by the love of Christ, to go 
forward to twenty per cent, and now I feel very happy 
to give twenty-five per- cent for the Lord. He has 



86 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

blessed me far above all my expectations. I do desire to 
say it to the praise of his holy name, that I have felt the 
Lord more precious to my soul than ever before. 1 
have it in my heart to send you a mite for the work of 
God in your hands, and herewith enclose you £10, half 
for the orphans, and half for missions. I feel it to be 
a sweet privilege that God has given me the means, and 
he makes me very happy in giving," etc. 



October 1st, 1S02. — From a naval officer, £6 15s. 
6d., with a letter closing thus : " With many of your 
donors, I have felt the full power of those words, that. 
' It is more blessed to give than to receive. ' For some 
time past I have given a tenth of my income to the 
Lord, and can truly say that, where I formerly gave to 
one object, I can now give to twenty, without any diffi- 
culty or effort, and with a degree of pleasure that 1 
never felt before. The more 1 give, the more 1 seem to 

get." 



ii * * * '' 



January 5th, 1863. — " My dear Sir : I have again 
the privilege of sending you a check (£24 15s. 6d.) for 
the furtherance of your good work. Please appropriate 
it as most needed. I feel it my duty to devote more 
and more to the service of my precious Saviour. It is 
now some years since I commenced putting aside a tenth 
of my entire income. From year to year I have in- 
creased the amount, and abundantly have I been blessed 
in the act. ' It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous 
in my eyes. ' Would that all calling themselves Chris- 
tians might but make the trial !" 



;<***" 



August 16th, 1870. — From a Christian gentleman in 
London, £10, with the following statement : " Dear 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 87 

Mr. Muller : I am thankful to be able to enclose you a 
check for £10 for the orphans, from the little fund I 
regularly put aside and recognize as the Lord's. Cer- 
tainly the way he has prospered my path has been most 
marked, ever since I have adopted the plan of sys- 
tematic giving" etc. 



September 16th, 1870.— From Scotland £50, with the 
following letter : " My dear Sir : Thirty-five years ago 
I commenced to lay aside for the Master's use a fixed 
proportion of my income, and I have great happiness in 
bearing testimony to the Lord's goodness to me. I have 
found that, as I gave, the more was given to me." 



January 3d, 1871. — From a commercial traveller 
£10 3s. 9d., with this statement : " Last year I gave 
you one halfpenny on each chest of tea sold by me. 
This year I send you one penny, according to what 1 
said I would do, if I was prosperous ; and I have much 
pleasure in saying I have ,been wonderfully pros- 
perous." 

January 25th, 1872. — To-day I received the follow- 
ing letter from America, containing a bank order for 
$500 : " Beloved in the Lord : These $500 I now 
commit to your care, safe-keeping, and wise using ; 
they are God's, not mine. I have no money, house, or 
lands. ' The earth is the Lord's and the fulness 
thereof.'' The silver and the gold are his, the cattle 
upon a thousand hills. Indeed I am not mine own. 
' We are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in 
your body and in your spirit, which are God's. For 
months and years I have been asking counsel of the 
Lord to know in what way I could best dispose of the 
little he had lent me to his own glory, that on the day 
of final settlement I might hear, ' Weil done, good and 
faithful servant,' etc. Learning from your narrative 



88 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

that yon, dear brother, entertain the same blessed scrip- 
tural views of stewardship as herein specified, and that 
all you receive at the hands of donors, goes, not to build 
up Satan's kingdom, but the kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, I cheerfully and heartily place 
this small sum of $500 in your hands, for, (1) educating 
the little folks under your care, exclusively God ward ; 
(2) for distributing the Bible among the poorest of the 
poor in distant lands ; (3), to assist faithful missionaries 
of the Cross relying wholly on God for their temporal 
supplies. ' ' 

" * * * '• 



1858. — A merchant in the United States said, in 
answer to inquiries relative to his mode of giving, " In 
consecrating my life anew to God, aware of the ensnar- 
ing influence of riches and the necessity of deciding on 
a plan of charity before wealth should bias my judg- 
ment, I adopted the following system : 

" ' I decided to balance my accounts as nearly as I 
could every month, reserving such portion of profits as 
might appear adequate to cover probable losses, and to 
lay aside, by entry on a benevolent account, one tenth 
of the remaining profits, great or small, as a fund for 
benevolent expenditure, supporting myself and family 
on the remaining nine tenths. I further determined 
that, if at any time my net profits, that is, profit from 
which clerk-hire and store expenses had been deducted, 
should exceed $500 in a month, I would give twelve 
and one half per cent ; if over $700, fifteen per cent ; if 
over $900, seventeen and one half per cent ; if over 
$1300, twenty-two and one half per cent — thus increasing 
the proportion of the whole as God should prosper, until 
at $1500 I should give twenty-five per cent, or $375 a 
month. As capital was of the utmost importance to my 
success in business, I decided not to increase the fore- 
going scale until I had acquired a certain capital, after 
which I would give one quarter of all net profits great or 
small, and on the acquisition of another certain amount 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 89 

of capital, 1 decided to give half, and on acquiring 
what I determined would be a full sufficiency of capital, 
then to give the whole of my net profits. 

" ' It is now several years since I adopted this plan, 
and under it I have acquired a handsome capital, and 
have been prospered beyond my most sanguine expecta- 
tions. Although constantly giving, I have never yet 
touched the bottom of my fund, and have repeatedly 
been surprised to find what large drafts it would bear. 
True, during some months, I have encountered a salu- 
tary trial of faith, when this rule has led me to lay by 
the tenth, while the remainder proved inadequate to my 
support ; but the tide has soon turned, and with grati- 
tude I have recognized a heavenly hand more than mak- 
ing good all past deficiencies.' " 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 

The results of the work at the Orphanages are thus 
summarized by Mr. Miiller in his last report, dated May 
26th, 1884 : Since March 5th, 1831, when it pleased the 
Lord to enable me to found the Scriptural Knowledge 
Institution for Home and Abroad, he has graciously sent 
me, as the result of prayer and faith, 

OVER FIVE MILLION DOLLARS, 

or, to be exact, $5,063,850. 



CHAPLAIN C. C. McCABE, 

Corresponding Secretary Methodist Episcopal Church. 

God helps Christian men in every good work. It is 
as much of a divine command to be diligent in business 
as to be " fervent in spirit." 

God not only helps a man in business, but any lawful 
calling, prosecuted in accordance with his express will, 
is sure to bring a competency. 

C. C. McCabe. 



30 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

HON. ALEXANDER S. BACON, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Oar Saviour was a business man. He led an intense- 
ly active life wherein religion was business, and business 
was religion. God was his partner. Jesus did the 
work and God furnished the capital. The capital was 
the sinless character conferred upon the Son, and he is 
ready to set up any young man in any legitimate busi- 
ness under the same co-partnership agreement. 

^ His Holy Book is a marvel from a purely historic, 
biographical, or poetic point of view, as well as being the 
revelation of his will. It is of great interest from a 
scholar's standpoint ; and its practical utility is deter- 
mined by the way its holy truths are assimilated and 
made constituent elements of one's character. 

When the " platform " enunciated in the Sermon .on 
the Mount is a guide for a man's political, business, and 
religious life, God is in him, and, necessarily, in his busi- 
ness. 

_ God is the partner who furnishes the capital and 
directs the counsels, whether the business be selling coal 
or superintending a Sunday-school. 

Either God or the adversary is a partner in every busi- 
ness transaction — you cannot keep them out. 

Alexander S. Bacon. 



THE SECRET OF SUCCESS. 

" Will you tell me the secret of your success ?" said 
Dr. Todd, one day, to a wealthy paper-maker. 

The answer was : " When sixteen years old, I went to 

S to work. I was to receive $40 a year and my food. 

I then solemnly promised the Lord that I would give 
him one tenth of my wages, and also that I would save 
another tenth for future capital. If there be any secret 
to my success, I attribute it to that resolution. I be- 
lieve God has blessed me and made my business to 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 91 

prosper. I believe that any man who will make this 
trial will succeed." 

" The liberal soul shall be made fat." 



T. B. YENTEES, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

It has been my desire for many years to bring my 
daily business into more close relations with Divine 
Providence. 

For ten years and more, upon receipt of the day's 
sales, I have offered thanksgiving to God for the same, 
and asked his guidance in its use or employment. The 
result has been most beneficial. 

T. B. Ventres. 






S. S. KINGSLEY, 

Buffalo, N. Y. 

I have seen God manifested in many special provi- 
dences in my business experience. When they were 
recognized, I received profit and benefit therefrom. I 
would advise every young man commencing business to 
make God a special partner. 

S. S. KtNGSLEY. 



S. P. FENJS~, 
Cleveland, O. 

God has been in the past and is at the present palpably 
connected witli me in my business relations. I select 
three instances : 

1. I formed a purpose many years ago to give one 
tenth of my income to religious and benevolent work. 
The purpose has been carried out, and I have been in 
these years most wonderfully blessed both in the goods 
of this life and also the comforts of the hope which true 



32 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

religion gives. It has paid the best of any of my in- 
vestments. 

2. During the last five years my prayers have been 
most wonderfully answered in connection with mission 
and Christian work— notably in the raising of $28,000 
for the building of a house of worship in a needy portion 
of our city, not a dollar of which came from 'the con- 
gregation now worshipping within its walls. The whole 
enterprise is now complete and free from debt. 

3. One of the most marked answers to prayer in my 
experience was in reference to unnecessary work upon 
the Sabbath while connected with the railroad service. 

It was possible for the work to be done in secular 
hours. 

After earnest prayer, I refused to do it in any other 
hours, even in the face of discharge. The point was 
gained. I continued to hold the position, and to-day 
the men, including my superior officer at the time, who 
profaned the Lord's Day in that manner, are left behind 
me both in position and salary. 

It is strange that it is so hard for Christians to take 
God at his word. 

Doing so, the blessing comes. Not doing so, they 
lose it. 

S. P. Fenn. 



PERRY DAVIS. 

One of the best-known names in America is that of 
Perry Davis. When this man started in business as a 
compounder of medicines, in Providence, R. I., he 
made a resolution that as soon as he became possessed of 
sufficient means he would build a church as a token of 
his love for God. 

He kept his word. The church was built out of the 
profits of the business. Perry Davis preached the open- 
ing sermon, and that church stands to-day a monument 
of his devotion to his Master. 

Perry Davis was a thoroughly consecrated man, made 
God a partner in his business, and attributed his success 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 



in a great measure to the Lord. He died worth several 
millions of dollars. 

" He that watereth shall be watered also himself." 



M. P. Barker, M.D., of New York, says: "It is 
abundantly proven in Scripture that temporal blessings 
follow proportionate giving. God guarantees the pay- 
ment of our loans to him. Many persons desire part- 
ners in business, or seek for safe investments for their 
surplus means. Here is a chance for an investment that 
will pay. The Creator of all wealth has pledged his 
word, and he never fails. 






THE LOST ACCOUNT. 

One day a fine-looking gentleman took the floor in the 
Fulton Street business men's prayer meeting. He was 
the cashier of a bank. One day, in looking over the ac- 
counts, a discrepancy of several thousand dollars was 
discovered. The funds of the bank were solely in his 
charge. He knew he had not used a dollar of the 
money improperly, but the account was against him. 
He passed whole nights in examining the vouchers. 
His sleep fled from him. Disgrace stared him in the 
face. The next day the bank was to be examined by 
the officials. A thousand temptations assailed him. 
Sometimes he resolved to fly and hide from the dishon- 
or. The next morning dawned. The discrepancy could 
no longer be hidden. In his extremity he called upon 
God. For one hour in the directors' room he wrestled 
with God in prayer. He arose, possessed of a calmness 
he had not known in days. Guided by an impulse, he 
knew not what, he went to the safe, took out a blotter 
he had not seen for many a day, and laid it on the 
desk. It opened, and before his eyes lay the full ac- 
count, complete in all its parts. He had simply ne- 
glected to copy the page. The darkness gave place to 



94 GOD IN" BUSINESS. 

light, and he came into the meeting to render thanks to 
the name of the Lord.— Marvels of Prayer. 



" Our fathers trusted in thee : they trusted, and thou 
didst deliver them." 

KEY. LYMAN ABBOTT, 

Editor Christian Union, N. Y. 

The end of all business, as the end of all other activity, 
is the promotion of the kingdom of God. 

If a man is working with this end in view, he may be 
assured of God's help in his work, not necessarily to 
make his business a financial success, but to make it a 
means for the service of God and the enrichment of 
humanity. 

I have heard one of the most successful business men 
in America say that the Bible was the best text-book 
for a business man to study. 

Lyman Abbott. 

How joyous our business would become if, whenever 
we make a sale of goods, we would say, " Some poor soul 
will get a share of the profit of this !"' 

" This will send a basket of grapes to a feverish pa- 
tient in a hospital." 

" This will pay the rent for an aged widow about to 
be dispossessed." 

" This will give a Bible to a prisoner." 

" This will wipe away the tear from some pale cheek, 
and place thereon a rose." 

Happy the man who can honestly say, " My business 
is to do my Father's business !" 



HON. ELIJAH A. MORSE, 

Canton, Mass. 

In the affairs of my life, public and private, I have 
sought the direction and guidance of my Heavenly 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 95 

Father. I believe the Gospel good to live by ; good in 
seasons of adversity and affliction, and good to die by. 

Elijah A. Morse. 

JOHN BARRY. 

On the summit of Washington Mountain stood a hut, 
the home of John Barry, a poor charcoal-burner, whose 
family consisted of his wife and himself. His occupa- 
tion brought him in but a few dollars, and when cold 
weather came he managed to get together only a small 
provision for the winter. One fall, after a summer of 
hard work, he fell sick and was unable to keep his fires 
going. 

His entire stock of food consisted of a few pounds of 
salt pork and a bushel of potatoes. Sugar, coffee, 
flour and tea had given out, and the chances for replen- 
ishing the larder were slim indeed. 

December 15th came, and with it the heaviest fall of 
snow experienced in Berkshire County in many years. 
The food of the old couple was now reduced to a day's 
supply, but John did not yet despair. He was a Chris- 
tian and a God-fearing man, and God's promises were 
remembered, and so, when evening came and the fierce 
snow-storm was raging, John and his wife were praying 
for help. 

In Sheffield Village, ten miles away, lived Deacon 
Brown, a well-to-do farmer, who was noted for his piety 
and consistent deportment both as a man and a Chris- 
tian. The deacon and his wife had gone to bed early, 
and, in spite of the storm raging without, were sleeping 
soundly, when with a start the deacon awoke and said to 
his wife : " Who spoke ? I heard a voice saying, ' Send 
food to John.'" "Nonsense," replied Mrs. Brown, 
"go to sleep. You have been dreaming." The dea- 
con laid his head on his pillow and was asleep in a 
minute. Soon he started up again, and said : " There, 
I heard that voice again, ' Send food to John.' " 
" Well, well," said Mrs. Brown, " deacon, you are not 
well. Lie down and try and sleep." Again the deacon 



9G GOD IH BUSINESS. 

closed his eyes, and again the voice was heard, " Send 
food to John." This time the deacon was thoroughly 
awake. " Wife," said he, "who do we know named 
John who needs food?" "No one I remember," re- 
plied Mrs. Brown, " unless it be John Barry, the old 
charcoal-burner on the mountain." "That's it," ex- 
claimed the deacon. " Now, I remember, when I was 
at the store in Sheffield the other day, Clark, the mer- 
chant, speaking of John Barry, said, ' I wonder if the 
old man is alive, for it is six weeks since I saw him.' ' 

The deacon arose and proceeded to dress himself. 
" Come, wife," said he, " waken our boy Willie and 
tell him to feed the horses and get ready to go with me, 
and do you pack up a good supply of food and get us an 
early breakfast, for I am going up the mountain to carry 
the food I know John Barry needs." 

Mrs. Brown cheerfully complied, and, after a hot 
breakfast, Deacon Brown and his son Willie, a boy of 
nineteen, hitched up the horses to the double sleigh, and 
then, with a month's supply of food, started at five 
o'clock on the journey. 

The northeast storm was still raging and the snow 
falling and drifting fast, but on, on went the team on its 
errand of mercy. That ten miles' ride, which required 
in the summer hardly an hour or two, was not finished 
until the deacon's watch showed that five hours had 
passed. 

At last they drew up in front of the hut. The poor 
trusting Christian man and woman were on their knees 
praying for help. As the deacon reached the door he 
heard the voice of supplication, and then he knew that 
the message which awakened him from sleep was sent 
from heaven. He knocked at the door ; it was opened, 
and we can imagine the joy of the old couple when the 
generous supply of food was carried in, and the thanks- 
givings that were uttered by the starving tenants of that 
mountain hut. — Albany Journal. 



" This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and 
saved him out of all his troubles." 



GOD IN BUSINESS. &7 

W. H. DOANE, 

Cincinnati, O. 

I have found the Lord an ever-present help, and I 
have always had an abiding faith that, leaning on his 
arm, guided by his counsels, in my daily business life, 
I should find success. The Bible tells us that if any 
man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, and if we lift 
our hearts in sincere prayer for this higher wisdom 
which comes from above, we are reasonably sure that 
the prayer will be answered in spiritual blessing, and our 
hearts made glad, and we will become stronger to resist 
temptation, braver to battle for the right, and more 
humble as we recognize and feel our dependence upon 
God. I have found him the truest, best friend I ever 
had. 

W. II. Doane. 



A YOUNG CONVERT'S COURAGE. 

At a Gospel meeting Mr. James Forbes observed : 
"When Mr. Moody was here last, at one of his meet- 
ings in the circus, after a most affecting address, I 
spoke to a man in the audience about his soul. He con- 
fessed that he saw his need of a Saviour, and that he 
was ready to cast his all upon Christ, and left the hall 
rejoicing. A day or two afterward, at a similar meeting 
in the same place, I came across him again, and about 
the first thing he told me when I asked after his spir- 
itual welfare was that he had been obliged to leave his 
employment. He collected the tickets at the door of a 
theatre at a salary of eighteen shillings a week, but he 
felt that he could not have any connection with a theatre 
and be a Christian. ' But,' I said, ' what are you going 
to do ? you have a wife and family, and they must be 
fed. ' His answer was, ' Can I not trust the Lord to pay 
eighteen shillings a week ? ' The very next day he got 
a situation at a better salary, where he could serve God 
and his employer at the same time. Depend upon it, the 



98 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

kind God, who feeds his birds, will not allow his children 
to starve." 

" "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." 



REV. JAMES THOMAS SAILES, 
Arcadia, La. 

The instances of God's blessings upon the Christian 
business man are not few, even in my limited sphere 
of observation. 

1 can remember very distinctly that in my boyhood 
my attention was called to a Christian merchant in the 
town of Belfast, Ireland, who employed two clerks, and 
who, every morning, retired to his office with his clerks 
for prayer before commencing the business of the day. 

That man commenced business with a very limited 
capital, but died worth several hundred thousand 
pounds. He never was known to withhold his money 
when a cause was good, and I have known several fami- 
lies that existed almost entirely upon his charity. Of 
four of his clerks, to my own knoicledge but one has 
been a failure in life ; and this one has often confessed 

that had he followed Mr. 's advice and example, 

he might have been a successful man. 

The gentleman to whom I refer has often said that he 
attributed his success in business and in life to God's 
gracious answer to his prayers. 

I could give you other instances, but am sure you do 
not wish too many from one correspondent. One, how- 
ever, I cannot refrain from giving : 

A godly young man from the county Down, Ireland, 
went out during the gold fever to California to seek his 
fortune. He was placed among a party of men who 
were wickedness personified. While they were gambling 
and swearing, he was praying and studying the Word. 
They became renegades and drunkards, and died mis- 
erable deaths. He returned to Ireland a millionaire. 



UOD IN BUSINESS. 99 

He attributed his success to the blessings of God upon 
his labors. 

James Thomas Sailes. 



F. W. UNDEKWOOD, 

New York. 

I have looked for the Divine guidance in both small 
and great matters, and not in vain. 

Without this assistance, things would have been very 
different. 

F. W. Underwood. 

A Scotchwoman kept a saloon near the Tombs. She 
was far from being happy. One day she came into the 
Fulton Street meeting. Prayers were offered for a per- 
son in a disreputable business. That touched her case. 
She was agitated and distressed. Again and again she 
came to the meeting, until she was under the deepest 
conviction of sin. She sold out her business, and turned 
her attention to other pursuits. She was prospered. 
Her prosperity seemed to date from the hour when she 
abandoned her disreputable business, and devoted her- 
self to God. Her family are now in affluence. 



A business man was induced to endorse a promissory 
note for a large amount. When the note matured, the 
drawer did not pay it. The endorser had no money,, 
and was in great distress. The third day of grace 
dawned. He was in despair, when a voice seemed to 
say to him : " Enter into thy closet, and pray to thy 
Father in heaven." He went upstairs and knelt down. 
The voice seemed to say, " Shut the door." He arose 
and shut the door. With closed eyes he bowed again in 
prayer. A portrait of a friend seemed to float before 
him. He shouted, " Thank God." That friend was a 
clergyman of large property. He went to him and 
told his story. The clergyman said, " Why did you not 



100 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

come to me before ?" He wrote a cheek. When the 
endorser reached the bank he had just five minutes to 
spare before the closing of the bank on the last day of 
grace. He was soon enabled to refund the generous loan. 



" O taste and see that the Lord is good : blessed is 
the man that trusteth in him. " 



ALFRED S. BARNES, 

Publisher. 

New York, June 23, 1887. 

God certainly does assist the Christian in business. 
We are in his hands. If we trust in him, he will as- 
sist us in every effort we make. It may not be in our 
way, but in his way, which is always the best. 

Alfred S. Barnes. 



CHARLES H. SP1TRGEON. 

His Petition for Money and its Remarkable Answer. 

A clergyman residing not far from Albany, speaking 
of the power of prayer, said he had had a testimony from 
his personal experience while abroad that prayer was all 
powerful. While in London he called on the Rev. Mr. 
Spurgeon. During the interview Mr. Spurgeon ex- 
cused himself abruptly, saying that he had a duty to 
perform which he could not neglect, and he kindly in- 
vited the visitor to remain and look at the pictures and 
the books in the library. The clergyman, after waiting 
some time, thought he would walk out into the garden 
adjoining the house, and while doing so _ heard a 
voice. Listening for a moment, he distinguished the 
voice of Mr. Spurgeon, who was engaged in earnest 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 101 

prayer. The clergyman returned to the house, and 
soon Mr. Spurgeon came in. The visitor inquired 
whether he had not heard Mr. Spurgeon praying, and 
the latter responded affirmatively, and when pressed 
said : 

" I was praying in my summer house. I have had a 
great burden on my mind. You know I have various 
institutions for which I am now providing the funds, 
and I have been much troubled about them." 

The visitor inquired what Mr. Spurgeon's need was, 
and the latter answered that he must have $50,000, and 
at once, in order to continue his work as it should be 
continued, and, he said to his visitor, " I feel that I 
shall get it." The stranger remarked to Mr. Spurgeon 
that he was about to leave the city, but would be very 
much pleased to meet Mr. Spurgeon on his return, and 
ascertain whether his faith had been justified by results. 
The following week, when the clergyman returned to 
London, he attended a prayer-meeting at Mr. Spur- 
geon's church. At the close of the meeting Mr. Spurgeon 
noticed his friend in one of the front seats, and beck- 
oned to him to come forward. He did so, and Mr. . 
Spurgeon took him by the hand and said 



" Well, I got my money. The day after you left me 
my study when a lady calle " 
carriage and asked to see me. She said that she had 



I was busy in my study when a lady called in her 



been much troubled of late over the thought that my 
work must be very exacting, and that she had wondered 
where I received sufficient aid to carry it on. She said 
she desired to give me £10,000 to continue that work, 
and preferred that I should take it while she lived, rather 
than that she should leave it to me in her will, subject 
to litigation. She empowered me to call upon her at 
once and get the amount, and thus my necessities were 
instantly relieved, and my prayer answered." — Albany 
Journal. 



u This is the Lord's doing ; it is marvellous in our 
eyes." 



]02 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

Mr. Spurgeon said, in a late address, that when the 
idea of the" orphanage was started, he really had his 
hands full. But God had hitherto helped him, and he 
decided to commence the building of the Stockwell Or- 
phanage. 

An old lady started the scheme by offering him £20,- 
000. He found that it was a bad year to commence, 
and another drawback was that the money was invested 
in railway shares, upon which he could not raise a single 
farthing. Friends, however, came forward and gave 
him the money required, so that he had the £20,000 by 
him. He was pleased to say the shares were worth near- 
ly £30,000 now. God, in his infinite mercy, had helped 
him when he was in need. He was once staying with 
an old friend of his, Dr. Brock, in Regent's Park, and 
in course of conversation Mr. Spurgeon said he had 
to pay a builder the next day the sum of £3000, and he 
had only £1000 to meet it/ He added, however, that 
he was sure the required sum would be forthcoming. 
Dr. Brock said, " I am glad you have such confidence." 
Singularly enough, a telegram came to him, saying that 
a gentleman had called at his house and had left £2000 
for the orphanage. The institution received gifts of va- 
rious kinds, for which the trustees were very grateful. 
Some time ago a merchant sent a load of turnips, and, 
singularly enough, a sheep from another individual was 
sent. At a meeting of the trustees recently, it was 
stated that £360 were in hand, and the bills sent in 
amounted exactly to that sum. On another occasion he 
said that they had got to the bottom of the treasury, and 
he asked how much they had in their pockets. The 
sum of £150 was then raised. He prayed to God that 
he would help his children, and he asked in perfect 
faith. On the Sabbath day after the meeting, some one 
said to him, " How about your prayer ?" He answered, 
that before the sun had gone down that evening he 
received £800. He not only received that sum for the 
orphanage, but he had money for other purposes. 
He asked, If God be faithful, why do not all trust 
him ? 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 103 

WILLIAM IVES WASHBURN, 

New York. 

It is a matter of common belief among Christians, 
which I confess to sharing, that God takes an active in- 
terest for their good in all affairs of his children, busi- 
ness or otherwise. 

Whether he assists in business concerns perhaps de- 
pends upon what course of treatment he, in his infinite 
wisdom, may decide to be for the highest welfare of' the 
individual Christian here and hereafter, taking into ac- 
count the influence he may exert, the use he may make 
of success, the disciplinary value of non-success in fail- 
ure and trial, and, in short, the peculiar environment 
and circumstances of each case determined separately. 

William Ives Wasiibukx. 



THE EXPRESSMAN'S EXPERIMENT. 

Mr. Blank, an expressman in the good old town of 
B , in eastern Massachusetts, was converted. 

One day there came an application to him for a sub- 
scription for a certain object which he deemed impor- 
tant. He promptly put down $500 as his subscription. 
His good wife heard of it with amazement. He was a 
poor man ; and how he was ever going to pay $500 was 
more than she could tell. He believed the Lord would 
provide a way. 

The time came to pay the subscription. He gathered 
together what money he could, handed over his little 
savings, and finally sold the express wagon and team, 
and appropriated the proceeds to cancel his subscription. 
When it was done, he was pretty well stripped. 

He had an aged uncle in the town who was interested 
in his welfare, and the old man used to sometimes drop 
into the prayer-meeting and hear what his converted 
nephew had to say. He became convinced that his con- 
version was genuine ; that he was a real Christian. The 



104 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

old man had made bis will before, but upon second 
thoughts he went to the lawyer and added a codicil, 
giving this nephew $1000. Shortly after he died, and 
to the joyful surprise of the nephew, $1000 was paid 
oyer to him. His money was doubled, and all through 
his trust in God and his faithfulness in his service. 



" Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find 
it after many days." 

JOHN T. UNDERAVOOD, 

New York City. 

1 have ever found the Almighty's help daily, and 
would not be without it in business. 

John T. Underwood. 



Said a worldly man to a Christian : " I don't see 
where your theory of divine help in financial matters 
comes in. Now, I am an unbeliever, but I get as large 
a salary as you do." 

"Yes," was the answer; "but you don't get the 
good out of it that I do. Last night I gave $5.00 to 
a poor delicate widow with three little girls, one of 
whom lies upon a bed with a broken limb. Don't you 
suppose I got more happiness out of that money than if 
I had spent it for billiards, drinks, and cigars ? 1 have 
all I need, and something to give away besides every 
month. God does help in financial matters. He helps 
me to spend my money— to spend it in a manner that 
gives me real, true enjoyment, and the peace of God 
which passeth all understanding." 



REV. J. O. PECK, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

From a sermon delivered by Dr. Peck in Brooklyn, 
November 27th, 1887 : 



GOD IN" BUSINESS. 105 

" A merchant in New York heard that a certain 
young man had joined the church. He said : ' I'll 
watch this young man. If he has stamina enough to 
live up to his profession, I want him in my business. 
I don't want him if he is a hypocrite.' Every Wed- 
nesday evening he watched to see if this young man 
went to the prayer-meeting. He observed him in his 
daily life to see if he lived the Christian life which he 
had begun. This surveillance continued for a year. 
The merchant saw that the young man stood fast, and he 
took him into his employ at a large salary. 

" This merchant was not a Christian, but he felt cer- 
tain that if this young man lived up to his principles, he 
could trust him in his business. Christianity helped this 
young man in business matters. 

" I was acquainted with another Christian young man 
in New York. His employer once asked him to engage 
in some crooked transaction. The young man said : 
' I refuse.' His employer never again asked him to 
commit an unprincipled act. A few weeks later the 
young man was promoted; then he was made the man- 
ager of a branch house. At last he decided to start in 
business for himself. His sterling Christian character 
had won for him a friend, who loaned him the necessary 
money without security, and to-day, at the age of 
twenty-seven, he is the owner of a large establishment in 
New York, with branches in Boston and Philadelphia. 
His former employer is now one of his clerks. Chris- 
tianity helped that young man in business. 

" A member of my church, in New Haven, had a 
Christian young man in his employ. He decided to test 
his principles. One day he said to him : ' Joe, I want 
you to go out and buy a quantity of butterine. We can 
sell it for butter. There's lots of money in it.' 

" ' Sell butterine for butter ! No, sir ! You can 
get some one else to do that for you. I'm receiv- 
ing $2000 a year, but I'll lose my position before I'll ' 
do it.' 

" The subject was dropped. The young man was not 
discharged. . A few years later the merchant gave his 



106 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

daughter's happiness into the keeping of the man who 
had stood firm when put to the test. 

" In the same church in New Haven was a business 
man who was well known for his stanch Christian in- 
tegrity. One day he received a letter from a customer 
two hundred and thirty miles away. It read : ' En- 
closed you will find a draft for $i5,000. You know 
what kind of goods I am using. Select goods for me to 
the value of this draft. You have always treated me 
honestly. I know you will again/ 

"Christianity is a help in business. God issues a 
bond. ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his 
righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto 
you.' 

" When we fulfil the requirements, when we meet the 
conditions, we may be certain that God will pay the 
bond." 

M. C. PHILLIPS, 

Oshkosh, Wis. 

I thankfully accept the opportunity of giving direct 
testimony to God's assistance in business matters, that 
the way for the Holy Spirit may be opened. In my 
professional career, when I have responded to God's 
claims upon me, then my dependence upon him has, 
without exception, met with immediate returns. ^ I can 
see that all through my business life he has directed 
every step, when permitted ; and he has also restored my 
health. 

M. C. Phillips. 

OTTO A. REINHARDT, 

San Jose, Cal. 

For nearly eight years I have tilled the soil, with God 
as my helper. "He has most wonderfully directed the 
business to a successful issue. Now, as I am about to 
embark in mercantile life, I am confident he will again 
guide me. A shoemaker once, when asked what his 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 107 

business was, replied : " My business is the salvation of 
souls. 1 sell shoes to pay expenses." I purpose, in my 
new business, to buy and sell solely for the glory of God. 

Otto A. Reiniiardt. 



AN OLD GENTLEMAN'S TESTIMONY. 

When 1 was a young fellow, I acted as assistant to an 
apothecary, and it was my duty to answer the night-bell 
and prepare and give medicines when called for. One 
night I had been called up three times. 1 had just got 
back to bed, when the bell rang a fourth time. I 
jumped up very sleepily, and in a very bad temper, to 
find a little boy standing at the door who had been sent 
from a neighboring village for medicine for his sick 
mother. Growling, I took the phial from his hand and 
went into the back shop to mix the drops. In my 
sleepy and cross state I grasped the wrong bottle, poured 
something from it, something from another, and gave 
the medicine to the boy. After locking the door I re- 
turned to put up the bottles ; but, oh, horror ! I saw 
the mistake I had made. 

I called out in my anguish, " Oh, God, grant to cause 
a miracle to happen to deliver me from the awful misery 
of causing the death of a fellow-creature through my 
carelessness." I prayed in intense agony of soul. Then 
for the fifth time that night the bell rang again, and 
when I opened the door, there, trembling and crying, 
the little boy stood before me. " Oh, don't be angry at 
my disturbing you again," pleaded the frightened child ; 
" but I fell down, and the bottle was broken. Oh, 
please, sir, make up the medicine again, or my mother 
may die !" 

You may imagine with what joy I received the child, 
and how willingly I mixed the drops from the proper 
bottles. Wasn't that a miracle of mercy ? How can 
one say that miracles never happen now ! 

" I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered 
me from all ray fears. " 



108 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

EDGAR C. PATTERSON, 

New York. 

I have no hesitation in saying that God assists the 
Christian in business, provided his business is Christian ; 
but he will not assist him if it is unchristian, as the cul- 
tivation, manufacture, sale, or use of tobacco, or the 
manufacture, sale, or use of intoxicating liquors as a 
beverage, both of which are evil, and only evil. 

A Christian should undertake nothing upon which he 
would hesitate to ask the blessing of his Heavenly 
Father. 

My daily prayer is that I may not attempt any matter 
of business upon which 1 could not ask his blessing. 
Such prayers have been answered. 

Edgar C. Patterson. 



A NOTE IN THE BANK PAID. 

About the year 1845 there lived in Armagh, Ireland, 
a builder named Thomas Ross. In the transaction of 
his somewhat extensive business he had financial con- 
nections with a bank, where on one occasion his note or 
acceptance for a considerable amount was maturing. 
He went to a man who was indebted to him, and upon 
whom he usually depended for money in an emergency, 
but to his great disappointment found that he was unable 
to afford him the needed assistance. He knew not where 
to get the money ; the time wore away ; the last day of 
grace arrived, and the note must be paid by three 
o'clock or his name would be dishonored at the bank. 
He was a man who professed faith in the Lord, and had 
often expressed his confidence in the divine promises. 
This unforeseen embarrassment was to him an occasion of 
no little anxiety. .He spoke of the matter to his wife. 
and in reply she, perhaps without the deepest sympathy, 
intimated that as he had often talked of having faith, now 
he had an opportunity to exercise it. The time wore 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 109 

away until it was past noon, and no way of deliverance 
seemed open. About one o'clock a woman, Mrs. 
Kirkpatrick, who lived some five miles out of the city, 
came to his door in much perturbation, and with no little 
disgust said she had come in five miles to go to Belfast 
to buy goods for her little store. Being a little late, the 
stage had started without her, and though she saw it in 
the distance and hailed it and tried to stop it, the driver 
would not pull up. The passengers on board observed 
her anxiety to go, and endeavored to persuade the driver 
to stop, but he refused, and away he went ; and there 
she was, unable to go to Belfast, and besides, she had 
quite a sum of money on her person which she did not 
wish to keep about her, and she wanted to know if Mr. 
Ross would be so kind as to take it and take care of it 
for her, until she could find opportunity to go to Belfast 
and make use of it. 

Mr. Ross, as it may well be supposed, made no objec- 
tion to this proposal, and accordingly she counted out 
the money which she wished to leave in his hands, and 
the amount was just equal, to a penny, to the demand 
held by the bank against Mr. Ross, who paid his debt 
with a glad and thankful heart. 



THE OLD WOMAN'S QUESTION. 

After an infidel had concluded a lecture in a village 
in England, he challenged those present to discussion. 
Who should accept the challenge but an old, bent woman, 
in antiquated attire, who went up to the lecturer and 
said : 

"Sir, I have a question to put to you." 

" Well, my good woman, what is it ?" 

" Ten years ago," she said, "I was left a widow, 
with eight children utterly unprovided for, and nothing 
to call my own but this Bible. By its direction, and 
looking to God for strength, I have been enabled to feed 
myself and family. lam now tottering to the grave ; 
but I am perfectly happy, because 1 look forward to a 



110 GOD IX BUSINESS. 

life of immortality with Jesus. That's what my religion 
has done for me. What has your way of thinking dono 
for you ?" 

"Well, my good lady," rejoined the lecturer, "I 
don't want to disturb your comfort ; but—" 

''Oh! that's not the question, "said she; "keeptothe 
point, sir. What has your way of thinking done for 
you f" 

The infidel endeavored to shirk the matter again ; the 
meeting gave vent to uproarious applause, and the cham- 
pion had to go away discomfited by an old woman. 



DR. A. M. HIGGINS, 
New Bedford, Mass. 

Some twelve years ago we needed a place of worship. 
We did not want to hire a hall controlled by unconverted 
men, so we took the matter to the Lord. We soon re- 
ceived satisfactory evidence that this was in accord with 
his will. We decided to build a church. Our society 
was small and poor, and it seemed impossible to raise 
much money ; but when I am satisfied what is the will 
of the Lord I have no fears. In looking for a location 
we were directed to one very central spot. It was 
thought by all that it could not be obtained except at a 
very high price. We sought for wisdom as to what 
price to offer. After settling upon a price we asked the 
Lord to compel the owners" to accept our offer. The 
bargain was made. In less than one week afterward the 
owners were offered one third more than our price. 

Strange to say, that lot had stood vacant for sixteen 
years. _ No one thought of improving it until we ob- 
tained it. It had been waiting for us. We commenced 
work by preparing for the foundations. After hunting 
around among different quarries for foundation stones, 
we at last struck upon a rock in our own lot which 
worked out just enough to complete the foundations. 
We did not have to buv a stone. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. Ill 

Then we wanted to lay a drain. After looking in 
different places for drain-pipe, we at last decided where 
to get it. The cost would be considerable. We re- 
turned to the lot, and discovered that the workmen while 
digging had unearthed a completed drain. The very 
thing we needed ! It had lain there covered over and 
forgotten all these sixteen years. 

So it continued till the house was completed. Every- 
thing seemed ordered of the Lord. One brother, who 
was rich but penurious, said he would give $100 and 
no more. When more money was needed this brother 
gave another $100, but said, " This is the last I shall 
give." When we needed money again we asked the 
Lord to open the heart and purse of this man and others. 
The money came. When the church was finished we 
discovered that this brother had given nearly $700. So 
God blessed and prospered us. 

Another church in a neighboring town we built in the 
same manner. 

I have been surprised many times to see how the Lord 
has prospered me personally. It seems that the more I 
give the more I receive. Now, I give all I receive ex- 
cept what I really need, and never intend to add another 
dollar to my principal. 

I heartily believe the Lord will help in all our business 
if we will allow him to. 

A. M. Higgins. 



REV. JOHN STEEL. 

John Steel, a minister of Holt, said to a friend : 
" When I iirst began to preach, and before I fully 
entered the ministry, I was many months without em- 
ployment. I. had been supplanted in the place I held as 
under book-keeper by a young man who offered to do 
my work at less w T ages. The master offered me the same 
terms, but thinking I could soon find employment else- 
where, I refused. I travelled scores of miles, and tried 
every place, likely or unlikely, but all in vain ; and I got 
so reduced, and so very poor, that I would gladly have 



112 GOD IN" BUSINESS. 

done anything. The good woman with whom 1 lodged 
was very patient and kind to me, though I was getting 
deeply into her debt. I had paid her three shillings a 
week so long as my money lasted, but I had been several 
months and paid her nothing, and I was ashamed when 
I sat down to a meal, for I felt I was eating what did 
not belong to me. But what I feared most was to see 
my patient creditor come into the chapel when I was 
preaching ; her presence always confused my mind, and 
I preached with much difficulty. I owed her money, 
and could not pay it, and I felt sure she would think 
more of my debt than my discourse. 

" As I had expected, she at last informed me that she 
was not really able longer to maintain me, and begged I 
would look out fresh lodgings, and pay her when I 
could, fixing my time for leaving on the following Mon- 
day. I ate and slept very little that week. T believe I 
was on my knees nearly as much as in bed, and I wept 
much of the time. I again tried to get employment day 
after day, but failed. On the Saturday 1 made up my 
mind to go and enlist. 

" The nearest barracks were six miles from my lodg- 
ings. I set out without telling my landlady, hut with 
the intention of sending her my bounty money. While 
going, I bethought myself that I had to preach twice on 
the following Sunday, and began to reason thus : Well, 
I can do without foid to-day. I will rise early in the 
morning, and go to the place where I have to preach in 
the afternoon and evening, and attend the morning ser- 
vice ; perhaps some one will ask me to dinner. After 
service in the afternoon I am sure to get my tea, and a 
little of something after the evening service. I will then 
return home, rise early on Monday morning, and go for 
a soldier. I had got about three miles toward the bar- 
racks when I thus decided, but I at once turned back, 
and most of the way I cried like a child. 

" On Sunday all happened as I had supposed. I set 
out without breakfast, hut got invited to dinner. I 
preached in the afternoon and evening, got two other 
meals, returned home, and went to bed. I expected 



GOD IJST BUSINESS. 113 

that on that bed I was lying down for the last time. I 
was very tired with my day's work, but could not sleep. 
I was hot and restless, for the thought of going for a 
soldier in the morning greatly distressed me. I felt, 
what no doubt many of God's children, when passing 
through heavy trials, have felt, tempted to doubt a Prov- 
idence. My soul revolted at the red jacket and the 
musket, but all other ways seemed hedged up. In the 
bitterness of my soul I asked, ' Is there a Providence ? 
Is there a God ? ' ' Yes,' replied the faith that was not 
quite dead in me, ' there is a Providence, and there is a 
God, and though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.' It 
was a night of sore trial, and it was late before 1 fell into 
a troubled sleep. 

" I was awakened early in the morning by a loud voice 
crying from the bottom of the stairs : 

" ' John Steel, John Steel ! Get up, man, get up ! 
The person that took your place in the shop is in prison 
for stealing. Be quick and see the master. I think you 
will get it again.' 

" Get up I did, and was soon walking near the mill 
to meet the master Oh, how my heart beat when I 
saw him coming ! He spoke kindly to me, and asked if 
I had got work. 

" ' No, sir,' I replied. 

" ' Well, I shall be glad to take you into your old 
place at your old wages ; if you like you can come at noon.' 

" I looked round to see if there was any place where 
I could fall on my knees. My heart was full. I sang, 
and laughed, and cried, and ran home to tell of my good 
fortune. My poor landlady was much pleased, and 
promised me another week's credit. I went upstairs, 
and bowed down before my God. Oh, how visible to 
me was his good hand in this thing ! I was not to be a 
soldier, with sword and musket, but a preacher of peace. 
Many times since then I have been on the verge of de- 
spair in temporal matters — for preachers have their 
money difficulties as well as others— but I have never 
doubted a Providence, or the power of God to deliver in 
financial troubles." 



114 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

ADA L. PANGBURN. 

I was once an unbeliever. I was also in debt. I 
prayed God to deliver me from it, but all things seemed 
to go against me. I saw a copy of the Christian Giver, 
and it taught that the tithe was a debt, and that to pay it 
would bring temporal blessings. 

I said, " What new doctrine is this ? I didn't believe a 
word of it." Thinking on it, and searching the Scrip- 
tures, I began to wonder if right here was my mistake, 
and finally I concluded on July 1st, 1881 — first, that 
God would not harm me if I devoutly paid him the tithe, 
and, second, that I would make the experiment anyhow, 
and prove him now herewith. 

For the rich and immediate and most marked blessings 
— the poured-out blessings, financial, temporal, and spir- 
itual, which the Good Father hath granted unto un- 
worthy me, 1 thank him from the bottom of my heart. 
Had I room I should delight to write you some of the 
particulars. If you believe not, try it for yourself. 
Taste and see ! 



A woman and her husband, in comparatively humble 
circumstances, started a small business in a village in the 
West of England. One morning, on crossing the thresh- 
old of her lowly dwelling, she said within herself, " If 
the Lord does bless us in this place, the poor shall have a 
share of it." 

In alluding to his mother's vow in after years, one of 
her sons, in his place in the British House of Parliament, 
remarked : " It is to this vow that I attribute the great 
success my father had in business." 

A man, writing to his pastor, says : " Some time ago, 
while filling a subordinate position, I gave to two worthy 
objects $15 each per annum. 

" Soon after that I changed my position from servant 
to master. I send you $50. The Lord has greatly 
blessed my efforts ; from the time I increased mv contri- 






GOD IX BUSINESS. 115 

butions until now I give fully nine times what I gave 
some years ago." 

The effect of devoutly paying the tithe is always good 
upon man's estate. 

Suppose, now, that you are poor, and really need more 
money — or that you are in debt by reason of sickness, or 
suretyship, or other trouble, and being honest, you desire 
to get out. Or suppose that you are rich, and withal a 
wise steward, and could use more money advantageously 
in benevolent operations. In any of these cases it can 
be proved that if you will devoutly pay the tenth to the 
Lord, he will bless you financially \ 

Please observe, I do not say that he will make every 
one of us "rich." It would not do for us all to be 
" rich." It wouldn't be good for us. " Wealth" would 
make fools of sonic men. Others would become austere 
and grasping, or hard and defiant. 

I do say that if you really need more money, and will 
so pay the tithe, the Lord will bless you financially. 
Your temporal estate shall be improved. 

A devout paying of the tithe furnishes a strong bond 
of union between our souls and our Creator, and thus 
also, and best of all, tends to spiritual life. 



J. NEWTON HUMPHREY, 
Florence, Mass. 

My testimony in looking back over fifty years of busi- 
ness life is : "1 have never seen the righteous forsaken, 
nor his seed begging bread." I once called upon an old 
gentleman who had done business in Boston for half a 
century, to ask his advice in a business perplexity. 

He said, " Carry it to the Lord. I have often received 
Divine help in business difficulties. In a time of great 
financial embarrassment a note for $500 was due. The 
last day of grace arrived. ISTo relief was in sight. I 
closed the door of my counting-room, and asked the Lord 



116 GOD IX BUSINESS. 

to help. At one o'clock (only one hour in which to pay, 
a knock was heard at the door. I opened it, and a cus- 
tomer who had recently bought $600 worth of good, 
handed me his check for $500, and stated that he wished 
to pay this amount on account. The goods had been sold 
on sixty -day time. I paid my note with the Heaven-sent 
check. My trust in God was rewarded. Carry your 
trouble to the Lord, brother." 

I find it is safe to do this. My son was once afflicted 
with a malady which necessitated treatment at a hospital. 
I hardly knew how 1 could meet the expense, as I had 
been sick myself for five weeks, and unable to work. I 
lacked $18 of the required amount. I looked to the 
Lord and waited. Two days before the time for the 
payment arrived, a lady sent me by mail an order for $8 
worth of my goods, promising to pay when I revisited 
her town. I sent the goods, informing her of my illness. 
She immediately sent the money for her goods. Here 
was $8. It came at three o'clock on the last day. Be- 
fore sundown my pastor called and said : " One of the 
deacons of the church heard yon were sick, and sent this 
to you." I opened the letter, and a ten-dollar bill 
dropped into my hand. 

Here was the $18 needed for my boy's treatment. Is 
it any wonder that I wrote in my diary : " Who is wise, 
and will observe these things, even they shall understand 
the loving kindness of the Lord." 

J. Newton Humphrey. 



KEV. D. M. HEYDRICK. 

This gentleman is one of Brooklyn's most efficient city 
missionaries. His life is a continual illustration of God's 
help in money matters. 

Mr. Heydrick, in addition to his family expenses, has 
for twenty years sustained a mission Sabbath-school and 
an Old People's Home. Upon his shoulders rests the 
entire burden. 



GOD IN" BUSINESS. 117 

God lifts it off. 

He assumes all the expense. 

God is his Banker. 

On the moderate salary of a city missionary Mr. Hey- 
drick's disbursements are from $300 to $500 per month. 

How does he do it ? 

God helps. 

He goes out in the morning to attend to eases of des- 
titution without a penny in his pocket. Some one is 
sure to meet him and give him the money he needs — ■ 
five, ten, twenty, or a hundred dollars. 

It makes no difference about the amount. 

If he needs it, he gets it. 

Upon one occasion a gentleman who was associated 
with Mr. Heydrick in the mission ordered for the school 
a number of reversible seats. The bill was $300. By 
the time the seats were delivered this associate had 
severed his connection with the school. He kept delay- 
ing the payment for the seats until the creditor became 
impatient, and one day he told Mr. Heydrick that he 
would have to sue the purchaser of the seats. 

Mr. Heydrick said : " Let us see what the Word 
says about this matter." He opened to these words : 
" There is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to 
law one with another. Why do ye not rather take 
wrong ? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be 
defrauded ?" 

The surprise of the merchant at the aptness of the pas- 
sage was complete. Mr. Heydrick said : " Give me a 
month and I will pay for those seats myself." 

The merchant agreed to this. One month later Mr. 
Heydrick called upon this man. He said : ' l I promised 
to pay you $300 to-day, I haven't got the money. I 
am very sorry. I wish you would give me a little more 
time." 

" Certainly," was the reply. " But I thought the 
Lord always helped you to keep your promises." 

There was no answer. 

"How is this?" 



118 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

" I cannot understand it. God has never disappointed 
me before. 1 am sorry to be obliged to ask for an ex- 
tension of time. I will surely have it for vou in a month. 
Good- by." 

" Good-by," said the manufacturer. " Oh, stay ! I 
saw a person in the street to-day who was inquiring 
about you. I answered that you would be at my office 
to-day. I was asked to give you this letter. I had 
almost forgotten it." 

Mr. Hey d rick opened the letter. On a sheet of paper 
were these words : 

" Use this in the Lord's cause." 

Enclosed in the letter were six new and crisp fifty - 
dollar bills. 

Mr. Heydrick handed the money to the merchant with 
the words : " There's your $300. Give me a receipl. 
God has not disappointed me. Blessed be his holy name 
forever."' 

At one time Mr. Heydrick was in great financial 
trouble. He was destitute of funds to carry on his work. 
The gas was about to be shut off from his mission chapel. 
He chanced to be speaking to some professed Christians 
about his habit of asking God for everything he needed. 
He was ridiculed for his credulity, and went sadly away. 
He was in need of J537 at once. 

At that same hour in New York City a merchant sat 
in his office with a heavy heart, unable to meet a claim 
of $2300, and knowing of no human being to whom he 
could apply for a loan with a likelihood of obtaining it. 
He leaned on his desk and prayed. It seemed then as if 
a message from God instructed him to send a check for 
$37.50 to Mr. Heydrick. 

This amount was the tenth of the profit of a lot of 
goods sold, but not yet paid for. He had but $100 in 
bank, but faith said, " Trust God. He has always pro- 
vided a way, and he will now." He drew a check, sent 
it to the missionary, and at once was at peace. 

His book-keeper remarked : " What are you going to 
do with G. B." — the party he owed. The instant re- 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 119 

sponse was, " I am going to send him a clieck to-mor- 
row." 

He knew not where to turn, but believed that the 
Bank of Heaven would not dishonor his draft. 

He felt that he was put into that strait to see if he 
would obey conscience and trust God. lie had started 
in business with the determination to honor him with the 
first fruits of all his increase. 

The next morning the merchant, before leaving home, 
in his place of secret prayer opened to the promise, Rom. 
8 : 31,32, where, with Christ, are promised " All things, 
freely." On his way he had a long conversation in a 
store with a business friend about prayer and faith. He 
could hardly get away. lie felt that he ought to be 
looking out for the large sum to be provided for, but a 
message seemed to come to him, " /will provide. Do 
present duty and bear witness for me." He then went 
his way, and met a man at a point where he never met 
him before, and felt sure that this was no chance meet- 
ing ; asked him for a loan, and was told that his partner 
was averse to it ; went to the latter and found it so, yet 
in spite of himself he endorsed the merchant's note for 
$3000. But the way was yet blocked. The cash must 
be had at once. Notes must go before the directors, and 
one day's delay occasioned. The merchant, however, in 
full belief that God would provide, went to the bank, 
and, contrary to all precedent, the cashier on his own re- 
sponsibility cashed the note, and so the cargo was paid 
for, the merchant's burden removed, and the faith he 
had put in the promise of God honored. 



A CALENDAR TESTIFIES TO GOD'S ANSWER 
TO PRAYER. 

Copy of a letter received by Mr. Heydrick. 

Brooklyn, 1888. 
My dear Friend Heydrick : You know 1 am not 
very demonstrative, nor have I your faith ; but 1 must 
tell you something. 



120 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

Yesterday we did not have one cent in the house. No 
food, no coal, no oil, not even a cup of tea for my wife, 
nor a drink of milk for the baby. 

I did not know what to do. Unable to go out myself, 
not having any clothes, I sent Charlie to a man's house 
where I expected I could borrow a couple of dollars. 
He was not in the city. 

I came into our bedroom by myself, and kneeling down, 
fervently prayed for help. 

On getting up I noticed the calendar you gave me. 
On it were the following words : 



4- 



Saturday, 
19 

FEBRUARY. 



My God shall supply all your need. 

Phil. 14 : 9. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 121 

When you called last night with food we were all sick 
with hunger. We are not noio y thank God. 

This morning I find upon the calendar these words : 



Hi 1* 



Sunday, 

20 

FKBRUARY. 



God gave ... as He promised. 

1 Kings s : 12. 



Hi — i>* 



It certainly has proved true in a most wonderful 
manner. 

Your friend, 

D. 



122 GOD IX BUSINESS. 

CAPTAIN LEWIS W. PENNINGTON, 

New York. 

Soon after his conversion Captain Pennington was sent 
to sea in command of the Morro Castle, of the Clyde 
Line. During this voyage an incident occurred which 
made a deep impression on his mind and led him to 
meditate much on the unlimited power of prayer. His 
vessel was bound from New York to Charleston, N. C. 
For two days and nights she had been surrounded by a 
dense fog. 

The captain, almost worn out by loss of rest and by 
anxiety, was about to enter the pilot-house, about four 
o'clock in the morning, when the thought occurred to 
him that he had the privilege of committing the respon- 
sibility which was weighing upon him to an all-wise God. 
He turned into his own room and, kneeling down, be- 
sought God's help. It was no vague prayer, but a defi- 
nite petition that God would remove the fog. He felt 
assured that his prayer was heard. Entering the pilot- 
house, his cheerful face was noticed by the officers of the 
watch, who inquired what had happened. The captain 
said that he expected the fog to clear immediately. His 
attention was called to the fact that there was no sun nor 
any sign of anything that could lift it. The captain told 
them that he had prayed about it, and he believed that 
his prayer would be answered. His hearers, however, 
would have had more faith in a gleam of sunshine, and 
one of them, as he went out of the pilot-house, muttered 
an expression of contempt for prayer in such cases. The 
captain followed him to speak a word of reproof, when 
both saw three vivid flashes of lightning, which seemed 
almost to sttike the ship. The sailor stopped his ridicule 
and staggered back in amazement as he saw the fog com- 
pletely dispersed by the electric flash. We understand 
that one of the officers on board was so impressed by the 
occurrence that it ultimately led to his conversion. 

Upon one voyage a terrific storm arose. The ship 
was tossed upon the waters like a shell. Death stared 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 123 

every one in the face. Captain Pennington gathered the 
passengers and crew around him, and kneeling down, in- 
voked Divine help. Presently drops of water fell on the 
upturned faces. It commenced to rain. The downfall 
of water increased. The rain seemed to have a marvel- 
lous power of beating down the raging waters. In a few 
moments the sea was calm and the ship was saved. 



" They that go down to the sea in ships, that do busi- 
ness in great waters ; these see the works of the Lord, 
and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and 
raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves there- 
of. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again 
to the depths : their soul is melted because of trouble. 
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, 
and are at their wit's end. 

" Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and 
he bringeth t'hein out of their distresses. He maketh 
the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 

" Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his good- 
ness, and for his wonderful works to the children of 



men 



I" 



J. AUGUST SMITH, 

Forreston, 111. 

I have for years given a tenth of my income to the 
Lord's work. My son Frank, a lad of fourteen years, 
has adopted the same principle, and has, for the year he 
' has now been engaged in merchandising for himself, 
given a tenth of his profits to further the cause of 
God in the earth. I would not argue that "gain" is 
godliness, but I fully believe that those who " give to 
the poor lend to the Lord," and " the liberal soul shall 
be made fat." This has been my experience. May the 
Lord aid you in your work. 

J. August Smith. 



124 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

REV. CHARLES G. FINNEY. 

Charles G. Finney, the converted lawyer, was probably 
the greatest evangelist of the nineteenth century. It is 
estimated that he was the means of bringing a million 
souls to Christ. In his memoirs, written by himself, he 
writes of a business man whom he met in England : 

" I found that Mr. Brown was a remarkable man. 
His history reminded me of the proverb, ' There is that 
scattereth, and yet increaseth. ' For religious purposes he 
would spend his money like a prince ; and the more he 
spent the more he had to spend. When I first arrived in 
England he was running a hired flour-mill with ten pairs 
of stones. The second time I was there, in addition to 
this he was running a mill which he had built at St. 
Ives, at an expense of £20,000 sterling, with sixteen 
pairs of stones. He afterward built at Huntington an- 
other mill of the same capacity. Thus God poured into 
his coffers as fast as he poured out into the treasury of 
the Lord." 



Men fail because of intense competition. With God 
in our business there is no competition. 



WILLIAM H. WARD, 

Lowell, Mass. 

It is my candid judgment, based on a business experi- 
ence of twenty-five years : 

1st. That trust in God carries one over trying experi- 
ences which would otherwise result in complete failure. 

2d. That those who endeavor to honor God in their 
business act on true business principles, and thereby gain 
the confidence of their fellow-men, and business pros- 
perity as well as a good conscience are the result. 

3d. That honest, God-fearing men are at a premium. 
Note the fact that young men wanted in places of trust 
are usually sought in the churches. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. J 25 

4th. That ungodly men respect Christian character, 
though they themselves are destitute of it. 

In 1851 there lived in Ironton, O., a godly man, an 
elder in a Presbyterian church, who owned and operated 
several blast furnaces in that region. It was supposed 
and believed by iron manufacturers that a furnace 
would " chill" if not operated every day in the week. 
Elder Means ordered his fires banked on Saturday night, 
and on opening them on Monday, the molten metal ran 
more freely than ever, and it was found that just as 
much iron could be made in six consecutive days as in 
seven, and at less cost. 

I am a contractor on public works. At one time I 
was ordered by the chief engineer of an important rail- 
road system to prosecute my work on the Sabbath. I 
refused, and tendered the surrender of my contract. The 
tender was not accepted, and I was never asked again to 
do any Sunday work on that railroad, and the sceptical 
engineer referred to was afterward himself converted. 

William H. Ward. 



FROM A LABORER TO MAYOR. 

About the year 1835, when fires and cholera and 
financial disaster had done their worst, and thrown the 
city into confusion, there resided in New York a poor 
laborer. He was out of work. He had hitherto lived 
honestly and independently, and free from debt. Unac- 
customed to ask favors, he knew not where to obtain 
them, and as he had neither employment nor money, he 
was in great distress. Food was gone, and a wife and 
family depended on him for a breakfast, which he had 
no means of obtaining. 

But he was a Christian. He went to his chamber and 
laid the case before the Lord — he plead with earnestness 
the Divine promises, and supplicated God for daily 
bread. For hours he continued there, until at length 
his wife came to the door and said, " A gentleman wants 
to see you." He left the chamber and came into the 



126 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 



room, where he found a stranger, who said, " I have a 

contract for labor in the prison at , and I wish to 

obtain an overseer for my hands. I want a steady, faith- 
ful, and reliable hand. I am informed that you are 
well titted for the place. Now, name your terms." A 
bargain was quickly concluded, and with a salary of 
$l(ji)0 per year he entered upon his duties. He pros- 
pered. His wages were increased ; he rose to stations of 
profit and honor ; he became in after years mayor of the 
city where he still resides ; but in all his subsequent pros- 
perity he never experienced a purer joy than on that day 
when he proved the faithfulness of God, the steadfastness 
of his promises, and the power of persevering prayer. — 
2 ales of Trust. 




GOD IN BUSINESS. 127 

DOES RELIGION PAY? 

Extract from Dr. Talraage's Sermon, Preached Sunday, 
January 6, 1889, in the Brooklyn Tabernacle. 

" Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life 
that now is, and of that which is to come." — 1 Tim. 4 : 8. 

The papers are made out, and some of you have just 
entered into business partnerships. Others of you take 
higher positions in the commercial establishment where 
you were engaged, and others have entered upon new 
enterprises. There were last week in these cities ten 
thousand business changes. You arc expecting pros- 
perity, and I am determined, so far as 1 have anything 
to do with it, that you shall not be disappointed, and, 
therefore, I propose, as God may help me this morning, 
to project upon your attention 

A NEW ELEMENT OF SUCCESS. 

You will have in the business firm, frugality, patience, 
industry, perseverance, economy — a very strong business 
firm : but there needs to be one member added, mightier 
than them all, and not a silent partner either — the one 
introduced by my text : " Godliness is profitable unto 
all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of 
that which is to come." 

I suppose you are all willing to admit that godliness 
is important in its eternal relations ; but perhaps some 
of you say, " All I want is an opportunity to say a 
prayer before 1 die, and all will be well." There are a 
great many people who suppose that if they can finally 
get safely out of this world into a better world, they will 
have exhausted the entire advantage of our holy religion. 
They talk as though religion were a mere nod of recog- 
nition which we are to give to the Lord Jesus on our 
way up to a heavenly mansion ; as though it were an 
admission ticket, of no use except to give in at the door 
of heaven. And there are thousands of people who have 
great admiration for a religion of the shroud, and a religion 
of the coffin, and a religion of the hearse, and a religion 



128 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

of the cemetery, who have no appreciation of a religion 
for the bank, for the farm, for the factory, for the ware- 
house, for the jeweler's shop, for the broker's office. 
Now, while I would not throw any slur on a post-mortem 
religion, 1 want this morning to eulogize an 

ANTE-MORTEM RELIGION. 

A religion that is of no use to you while you live will 
be of no use to you when you die. " Godliness is profit- 
able unto all things, having the promise of the life that 
now is, as well as of that which is to come." I have 
always noticed that when the grace is very low in a man's 
heart he talks a great deal in prayer-meetings about 
deaths, and about coffins, and about graves, and about 
churchyards. I have noticed that the healthy Christian, 
the man who is living near to God, and is on the straight 
road to heaven, is full of jubilant satisfaction, and talks 
about the duties of this life, understanding well that if 
God helps him to live right he will help him to die right. 

After speaking upon the two propositions that godli- 
ness is good for a man's physical health and good for 
the intellect, Mr. Talmage said : 

Religion is 

GOOD FOR WORLDLY BUSINESS. 

I know the general theory is, the more business the less 
religion ; the more religion the less business. Not so 
thought Dr. Hans, in his " Biography of a Christian 
Merchant," when he says : " He grew in grace the last 
six years of his life more than at any time in his life ; 
during those six years he had more business crowding 
him than at any other time." In other words, the 
more worldly business a man has, the more opportunity 
to serve God. Does religion exhilarate or retard worldly 
business ? is the practical question for you to discuss. 
Does it hang like a mortgage over the farm ? Is it a bad 
debt on the ledger ? Is it a lien against the estate ? 
Does it crowd the door through which customers come 
for broadcloths and silks ? 

Xow, religion will hinder your business if it be a bad 



GOD IX BUSINESS. 120 

business, or if it be a good business wrongly conducted. 
If you tell lies behind the counter, if you use false 
weights and measures, if you put sand in sugar, and 
beet juice in vinegar, and lard in butter, and sell for one 
thing that which is another thing, then religion will in- 
terfere with that business ; but a lawful business, law- 
fully conducted, will find the religion of the Lord Jesus 
Christ 

ITS MIGHTIEST AUXILIARY. 

Keligion will give an equipoise of spirit. It will keep 
you from ebullitions of temper — and you know a great 
many line businesses have been blown to atoms by bad 
temper ; it will keep you from worry. When a man 
becomes a genuine Christian he makes over to God not 
only his affections, but his family, his business, his repu- 
tation, his body, his mind, his soul — everything. Indus- 
trious he will be, but never worrying, because God is 
managing his affairs. How can he worry about business 
when, in answer to his prayers, God tells him when to 
buy and when to sell, and if he gain that is best, and if 
he lose that is best ? 

Suppose you had a supernatural neighbor who came in 
and said : " Sir, I want you to call on me in every ex- 
igency. I am your fast friend ; I could fall back on 
$20,000,000 ; I can foresee a panic ten years ; I hold 
the controlling stock in thirty of the best monetary insti- 
tutions of New York ; whenever you are in any trouble 
call on me and I will help you ; you can have my money, 
and you can have my influence ; there is my hand in 
pledge for it." How much would you 

WORRY ABOUT BUSINESS ? 

Why, you would say : " I'll do the best I can, and 
then I'll depend upon my friend's generosity for the 
rest." Now, more than that is promised to every Chris- 
tian business man. God says to him : " I own New 
York and London and St. Petersburg, and Pekin and 
Australia and California are mine ; I can foresee a panic 
a million years ; I have all the resources of the universe, 



130 GOD IX BUSINESS. 

and 1 am your fast friend ; when you get in business 
trouble or any other trouble, call on me and I will hear, 
and I will help ; here is my hand in pledge of omnip- 
otent deliverance." 

Again, religion will keep you industrious and prompt ; 
it will keep you back from squandering and from dissipa- 
tion ;. it will give you a kindness of spirit which will be 
easily distinguished from that mere store courtesy which 
shakes hands violently with you, asking about the health 
of your family, when there is no anxiety to know whether 
your child is well or sick ! but the anxiety is to know 
how many dozen cambric pocket handkerchiefs you will 
take, and pay cash down. It will prepare you for the 
practical duties of every-day life. I do not mean to say 
that religion will make us financially rich, but I do say 
that it will give us. it will assure us of, a comfortable 
sustenance at the start, a comfortable subsistence all the 
way through, and it will help us to direct the bank, to 
manage the traffic, to conduct all our business matters, 
and to make the most insignificant affair of our life a 
matter of vast importance, glorified by Christian prin- 
ciple. In New York City there was 

A MERCHANT, HARD IN HIS DEALINGS 

with his fellows, who had written over his banking house, 
or his counting-house room, " No compromise." Then 
when some merchant got in a crisis and went down — no 
fault of his, but a conjunction of evil circumstances — and 
all the other merchants were willing to compromise — 
they would take seventy-five cents on the dollar, or fifty 
cents, or twenty cents — coming to this man last of all, 
lie said : " No compromise ; I'll take one hundred cents 
on the dollar, and I can afford to wait." Well, the 
wheel turned, and after a while that man was in a crisis 
of business, and he sent out his agent to compromise, 
and the agent said to the merchants : " Will you take 
fifty cents on the dollar?" " No." " Will you take 
anything V ' k We'll take one hundred cents on the 
doliar. No compromise." And the man who wrote 
that inscription over his counting-house door died in 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 131 

destitution. Oh, we want more of the kindness of the 
gospel and the spirit of love in our business enterprises ! 
How many young men have found in the religion of 
Jesns Christ a praetical help ? How many there are in 
this house to-day who could testify out of their own ex- 
perience that godliness is profitable for the life that now 
is ! There were times in their business career when they 
went here for help, and there for help, and yonder for 
help, and got no help until they knelt before the Lord 
crying for his deliverance, and the Lord rescued them. 

Jesus is the best business friend a man ever had. lie 
can pull you out of the worst perplexities. Why, Christ 
meets the business man on the street and says : " Oh, 
business man, I know all thy troubles ! I will be with 
thee. 1 will see thee through." Look out how you try 
to corner or trample on a man who is backed up by the 
Lord God Almighty ! Look out how you trample on 
him ! 

How often it has been that we have seen men gather 
up riches by fraud, in a pyramid of strength and beauty, 
and the Lord came and blew on it and it was gone ; 
while there are those here to-day who, if they could 
speak out in this assemblage, or dared to speak out, 
would say : " The best friend I had in 1837 ; the best 
friend I had in 1857 ; the best friend I had at the open- 
ing of the war ; the best friend I ever had — has been the 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

Now, if this be so, then I am persuaded, as you are, 
of the fact that the vast majority of Christians do not 
fully test the value of their religion. They are like a 
farmer in California, with fifteen thousand acres of good 
wheat land, and culturing only a quarter of an acre. 
Why do you not go forth and make the religion of Jesus 
Christ a praetical affair every day of your business life, 
and all this year, beginning now ; and to-morrow morn- 
ing putting into practical effect this holy religion, and 
demonstrating that godliness is profitable here as well as 
hereafter ? 

How can you get along without this religion ? Is 
your physical health so good you do not want this 



133 GOD IN BUSINESS. 



DIVINE TONIC ? 

Is your mind so clear, so vast, so comprehensive, that 
you do not want this divine inspiration ? Is your worldly 
business so thoroughly established that you have no use 
for that religion which has been the help and deliverance 
of tens of thousands of men in crises of worldly trouble 'I 
And if what I have said this morning is true, then you 
see what a fatal blunder it is when a man adjourns to 
life's expiration the uses of religion. A man who post- 
pones religion to sixty years of age gets religion fifty 
years too late. He may get into the kingdom of God 
by final repentance, but what can compensate him for a 
whole lifetime unalleviated and uncomforted ? You 
want religion to-day in the training of that child. You 
will want religion to-morrow in dealing with that Western 
customer. Oh, how many there have been who, post- 
poning the religion of Jesus Christ, have plunged into 
mistakes they never could correct although they lived 
eighty years after, and like serpents crushed under cart- 
wheels, dragging their mauled bodies under the rocks to 
die ; so these men have fallen under the wheel of awful 
calamity, crushed here, destroj T ed forever, while a vast 
multitude of others have taken the religion of Jesus 
Christ into every-day life, and first, in practical business 
affairs, and secondly, on the throne of heavenly triumph, 
have illustrated, while angels looked on and a universe 
approved, the glorious truth that Godliness is profitable 
unto all things, having promise of the life which now is 
and of that which is to come. — Christian Herald. 



GOD IN - BUSINESS. 133 

HORACE WATERS, 

New York. 

God assists me. I ask him night and morning to pros- 
per me in my business. He answers my prayers, and 
lias prospered me wonderfully. 

He has also greatly blessed me in the church and 
Sunday-school in the salvation of many precious souls. 
He has also blessed me in the temperance cause. 

Horace Waters. 



GEORGE J. ROGERS, 

Milwaukee, Wis. 

During an experience of thirty years in business I 
have at times been placed in embarrassing situations, 
quite unable to see where the money was coming from 
that must be had if I would keep -my credit good. At 
such times 1 have taken the case to my Heavenly Father, 
telling him how much I needed help (though he was 
aware of it), asked for the money, and got it. I believe 
our Father in heaven is as much concerned for the good 
name of his children as an earthly parent is. 

George J. Rogers. 



PROFITABLE GIVING. 

The Bible Society's Record tells of a collector who 
called upon a man for his contribution to the Bible cause. 
He was not a wealthy man, but did his own work on the 
farm. He looked over his books, and said his contribu- 
tion would be $70. 

"Why this remarkable benevolence?" said the -col- 
lector. He replied, " Six years ago I felt I was not giv- 
ing enough to the Lord, so I resolved to give in propor- 
tion to his blessings, and I hit upon this plan : I will 
give five cents for every bushel of wheat I raise, three 
cents for every bushel of oats, barley, etc. , ten per cent 



134 GOD IBf BUSINESS. 

for the wool, butter, etc., that I sell. The first year I 
gave $20, the second $35, the third $47, the fourth $40, 
the fifth $59, and this year my Bible contribution is $70. 
For twenty years previous, my doctor's bills had not 
been less than $20 a year, but for the last six years they 
have not exceeded $2 a year. I tell you, ' there is that 
scattered) and yet increaseth,' and ' the liberal soul shall 
be made fat.' " 



JOHN M. FERRIS, 

Editor Christian Intelligencer. 

I have never sought a position. I have simply done 
what God has given me to do. I have been voted for 
for over thirty years. Have had no appointment for 
life, no contract for a term of years, no legal hold for a 
longer time than one year in any of the positions I have 
occupied, but have held my place simply from year to 
year. 

I have had reason constantly to be thankful for having 
been prevented from doing what I was inclined to do. 
As these affairs turned out it was well I did nothing. 

It must be remembered in committing our way to the 
Lord that he sends discipline, chastisement, in the way 
of disappointment, failure, and perhaps loss, as well as 
success and gain. With what is called misfortune, God 
gives grace to endure and to profit by the discipline. A 
man learns some of his most useful lessons by enduring 
misfortune— lessons that prepare him for better and more 
efficient work. My conviction in regard to some of my 
acquaintances has been that their chief mistakes have 
been their attempts to flee from Providential discipline. 
In plain words, it is best to stand and take it, and wait 
for Divine deliverance. 

God has directed me, taken care of me clay by day, 
from the beginning of my active life to this hour. The 
results have been beyond the expectations cherished forty 
years ago. 

Johx M. Ferris. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 135 

JOHN DANIEL LOEST. 

A Remarkable Instance of Divine Assistance in Business 
Troubles. 

Published by the Berlin Religious Tract Society in 1855. 

John Daniel Loest, a celebrated German tradesman of i 
Berlin, was by the aid of the Lord so prospered in busi- 
ness that he became one of the most celebrated merchants 
in that city. Pie kept a fringe and trimming store. 

He was always benevolent, willing to help others, fer- 
vent in spirit, and constant in prayer. 

There once occurred in his experience a season of 
severest trial. His deliverance from this trial so aston- 
ished him that he was lost in wonder at the mysterious 
way in which the Lord assisted him. 

He became security for a lady to the amount of six 
hundred thalers. The attorney assured him that there 
was absolutely no risk, as this lady's property would be 
more than ample to cover any claim. 

Months elapsed, and the circumstance was almost for- 
gotten, when one day Mr. Loest received an order from 
the court directing him to pay the six hundred thalers 
on the following Tuesday. 

He now discovered that he had been duped. There 
was no escape. The six hundred thalers must be paid 
before the next Tuesday. 

He had just accepted a bill for three hundred thalers, 
to be paid on the ensuing Saturday. In his first thoughts 
of his perplexity, he hoped to get out of his dilemma 
by hurrying to a rich friend to obtain a loan. 

On his way to his friend's home he stumbled on an- 
other acquaintance who had lent him four hundred thalers 
on a note of hand. He saluted him with the news that 
he must pay that note on the following Friday, as he re- 
quired it to pay for goods which would arrive that day. 

" Yon shall have it," said Loest, as he hurried on to 
his friend. The friend was at home, but before Loest 
could tell his errand, he is addressed thus : " It is lucky 
you came, my friend. I was just going to send for you 



136 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

to request you to make provision to pay me back the five 
hundred thalers you owe me, for I must have it on 
Wednesday to pay off a mortgage on my house, which 
has just become due." 

" You shall have it," replied Loest, calmly, yet his 
heart became heavier every moment. 

Suddenly it occurred to him that the widow of a friend 
just dead was possessed of large means, and she might 
be inclined to help him. But alas ! disappointment thick- 
ened fast upon him. 

Loest owed the deceased fried five hundred thalers for 
a note, and three hundred thalers for goods delivered. 
As he entered the room of the widow she handed him 
an order from the Court of Trustees, under which he 
was bound to pay up the five hundred thalers on Thurs- 
day ; and, continued the lady : " I would earnestly en- 
treat you to pay the other three hundred thalers early on 
Saturday, for there are accounts constantly pouring in on 
me, and the funeral expenses must be met ;" here her 
voice faltered. 

" It shall be attended to," said Loest. He withdrew, 
not having had a chance to utter one word of the busi- 
ness that took him there. 

He had failed at every turn. 

But though the waves surged and rose, they did not 
overwhelm him. His faith became greater, for he felt 
certain that the Lord would bring him out of all his diffi- 
culties. 

This was the situation. He had promised to pay six 
hundred thalers on Tuesday, five hundred on Wednesday, 
five hundred on Thursday, four hundred on Friday, 
three hundred Saturday morning, and three hundred on 
Saturday afternoon ; in all, two thousand six hundred 
thalers. It was already the Saturday just previous, and 
his purse contained on\y four thalers. There was only 
one prospect left, and he went to a rich money-lender, 
and in response to his request for relief in money diffi- 
culties, was met with this reply of irony and sarcasm 
from one who loved to indulge his enmity to the Chris- 
tian faith : " You in money difficulties, Mr. Loest ! I 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 137 

cannot believe it ! It is altogether impossible ! You 
are always boasting that you have such a rich and loving 
master ! Why don't you apply to him now." And the 
money-lender could not conceal his pleasure at this 
opportunity of testing a Christian. 

Loest turned away ; hard as the taunt and remark of 
his opponent was, yet it recalled him to a sense of his 
duty, and his forgetfulness of the fact that lie had not 
hitherto asked of God for special help in this circum- 
stance. With cheerful steps he hurried home, and in 
long and imploring prayer asked for help and forgiveness 
in this, his neglect of trust in One so rich and generous. 

He was refreshed and comforted, and the Sunday was 
one of peace and sweetness. He knew and felt assured 
that the Lord would provide. The eventful week 
opened, and on Monday he arose with a cheerful thought 
in his heart. Ere he had had time to dress he noticed 
with great surprise that both his sister and the .assistant 
in the store seemed, notwithstanding the earliness of 
the hour, to have fully as much as they could do in 
serving customers and making up parcels, and he at 
once hastened into the shop to give them assistance. 
Thus it continued all day. 

Never, in all his experience, could Loest remember 
such a ceaseless stream of customers as poured, on that 
memorable Monday, into that out-of-the-way shop. Cook- 
ing dinner was out of the question ; neither masters nor 
maid had time for that ; coffee and bread, taken by each 
in turn, served instead of the accustomed meal. Still 
the customers came and went ; still three pairs of hands 
were in requisition to satisfy their wants. 

Nor was it for new purchases alone that money came 
in. More than one long outstanding account, accom- 
panied by excuses for delayed payment, and assurances 
that it had not been possible to settle it sooner, enlarged 
the contents of the till ; and the honest-hearted debtor, 
on whom this unwonted stream of money flowed in, was 
tempted every minute to call out, " It is the Lord." 

At length night came, when Loest and his worn-out 
assistants, after having poured out their hearts in thank- 



138 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

ful adoration in family prayer, sat clown to tho first meal 
they had that day enjoyed in common. 

When it was over the brother and sister counted the 
money which had that day been taken. The result 
showed six hundred and three thalers, fourteen silver 
groschen. 

This was sufficient to pay the first debt due the next 
day and leave but ten shillings and eightpence over, a 
trifle less than they commenced the clay with. Loest 
was lost in wonder and grateful emotion at tin's gracious 
testimony of how faithfully his Lord could minister to 
him in his necessities. 

" What a wondrous God is ours, who in the govern- 
ment of this great universe does not forget his gracious 
promises !" 

Tuesday was a repetition of Monday's splendid busi- 
ness, and brought in the live hundred thalers which he 
needed the next morning to pay off the mortgage on his 
friend's house, due that day. 

Wednesday's sales gave him five hundred more thalers, 
which he was obliged to have ready to pay on Thursday 
morning into the court. 

Thursday's sales brought him four hundred thalers, 
just the amount he had promised to pay the next day 
for goods delivered. 

Friday's sales gave him just three hundred thalers with 
which to honor the widow's demand on Saturday to pay 
funeral and contingent expenses. 

During these days of wonderful business, after each 
indebtedness was discharged there was not left in hand 
a sum exceeding three to five dollars. 

On Saturday morning, after he had sent the three 
hundred thalers to the svidow, he had left precisely two 
thalers and twenty silver groschen (six shillings eight- 
pence sterling), the smallest balance he had had. What 
seemed most alarming, the rush to the shop seemed to 
be entirely over ; for while during the five days past he 
had had scarcely time to draw his breath, he was now 
left in undisturbed possession of his place. Not a single 
customer appeared. The wants of the vicinity seemed 



GOD IN" BUSINESS. 130 

to have come to an end, for not a child even entered to 
buy a pennyworth of thread or a few yards of tape. 
This utter cessation of trade was as unusual and out of 
the accustomed business as the extra rush had been. 

At five o'clock on Saturday was due the debt of three 
hundred thalers. Three o'clock came, and there was but 
six shillings eightpence in the till. Where was his 
money to come from ? Loest sat still and possessed his 
soul in patience, for he knew the Lord would choose the 
best time, and he desired to be found waiting and watch- 
ing for the Lord's coming. The trial was severe. It 
seemed hopeless ; and if it should happen that the creditor 
came and went away unsatisfied his commercial character 
would be injured, his credit shaken, and his reputation 
severely suffer. 

That last hour ran slowly on. At a quarter to four, 
almost the last few moments of painful suspense, a little 
old woman came in, and asking for Mr. Loest, said to 
him half in a whisper : 

" I live here close by, quite alone, in a cellar, and 1 
have had a few thalers paid me, and now I want to beg 
of you to be so good as to keep them for me. I have 
not slept a night since I had them ; it is a great charge 
for an old woman like me." 

Loest was only too glad to accept the money, and 
offered interest, which she declined. She hurried back, 
brought in her money, counted it out on his table, and 
there were just three hundred thalers. 

She had scarcely left the house with her receipt in 
her pocket ere the clerk of the creditor, with his bill in 
his hand, rushed into Loest's presence. He received his 
three hundred thalers. 

Loest was lost in wonder at the marvellous way and 
exactness of time in which the Lord delivered him. 

Thus in one short week, from a beginning of less than 
five thalers, God had so exactly supplied his business 
needs that he had paid all his obligations of twenty- 
six hundred thalers, saved him from failure, saved his 
honor and good name, and now all was peace. 

This sketch illustrates the necessity of looking to God 



140 GOD IS BUSINESS. 

daily for help, and teaches the sublime lesson that money 
and prosperity are gifts from the Lord, and must be con- 
sidered as such, acknowledged with thankfulness, and used 
to please the Giver. 

" In God have I put my trust : 1 will not fear what 
man can do unto me. " 



W. H. AY RES, 

New York. 

My experience in business life since I became a Chris- 
tian- has tested and proved the truth of God's promises 
recorded in Proverbs 3 : G : "In all thy ways acknowl- 
edge him, and he shall direct thy paths." 

W. H. Ayres. 

W. W. WICKES, 
New York. 

God helps those who have a calm and abiding trust in 
him, and those who find both the motive and the aim 
of their industry in the Lord, and who regard themselves 
as his stewards. 

W. W. WlCKES. 

STEPHEN CALDECOTT, 

Toronto, Ont. 

No business can be permanently successful that has not 
a clear recognition of God as the foundation. All busi- 
ness to be lasting must be founded upon righteousness or 
right dealing, must be maintained in accordance with the 
principles of probity and truth found only in God's 
Word. 

" Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord," has been one of the mainsprings of my life. 
At the beginning of my business career I was told that 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 141 

as a salesman I could not succeed because I would not 
give or take alcoholic drinks. Those men who said and 
did so for the most part made sad shipwreck of them- 
selves and their business. I was also told that my prin- 
ciples might get me into heaven, but nes r er into a success- 
ful business. Thanks be to God, success of a material 
character has been given to me. Better than all, I have 
a blessed hope of future happiness in the Eternal Pres- 
ence. 

To a godly man there should he no secnlaiities. If 
every act in or out of business were done in a religious 
spirit, God would bless with success every well-directed 
effort. 1 have never known a capable, God-fearing man 
to ultimately fail in achieving success. Capable but 
worldly men fail by the thousands. 

Stephen Caldecott. 



JOSEPH MACKEY, 

New York. 

Shortly after I was converted I informed my wife that 
I had taken a partner in my business. She asked me 
who he was ; I said the Lord. " Oh," said she, " he is 
all right ;" and I have kept him in ever since. It's now 
over twenty-three years, and he has never failed me once. 

Joseph Mackey. 




143 GOD IN BUSINESS. 



THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. 

BY JOHN NEWTON. 

Though troubles assail, and dangers affright, 
Though friends should all fail, and foes all unite, 
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide 
The promise assures us : 

" The Lord will provide."" 

The birds without barn or store-house are fed ; 
From them let us learn to trust for our bread; 
His saints what is fitting shall ne'er be denied, 
So long as 'tis written : 

" The Lord will provide." 

When life sinks apace, and death is in view, 
The word of his grace shall comfort us through ; 
Not fearing or doubting, with Christ on our side, 
We hope to die shouting : 

" The Lord will provide." 



GOD IX BUSINESS. 143 

ALFRED JONES, 
London, England. 

Every child of God knows how wondrously His bless- 
ing follows the sanotification of the Sabbath. Sunday 
traders never prosper. Their business is turned into a 
curse instead of a blessing. How wonderfully the first 
Psalm proves this ! Whosoever reads God's word day 
and night and delights iu the word, the promise is : 
" Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Whatever is 
true of one man is true of all in the same circumstances. 

Alfred Jones. 

WHY HE FAILED. 

A prominent business man failed in the spring of 1877. 
He had been for years a prominent and consistent mem- 
ber of a Christian church. He had once even supported 
a church almost entirely. Nothing was known against 
his character, b ut he failed ; he failed in business. No 
one knew the reason why, but there it was— failure. 

At last, in moments of bitter repentance before God, 
he unbosomed himself to his pastor and said : " Long 
ago I promised to give the Lord one tenth of all my 
profits. While I did so I was immensely prosperous and 
successful ; but I forgot my promise, stopped giving, 
thought that I did not need to spend so much, and I 
began to invest my means in real estate. When I stopped 
giving I stopped getting. Now all is gone. / lost my 
all because 1 did not keep my promise to the Lord.-'' 



" Ye cannot prosper. Because ye have forsaken the 
Lord, he hath forsaken you." 



1-14 GOD IX BUSINESS. 



JOHN S. CREED. 



A Remarkable Business Career — Early Struggles — A New Start — 
Praver on Every Transaction-- Led to a Customer — A Money Crisis 
—The Strange History of $410— A Beneficent Life. 

John S. Creed, who died a few years ago in Brooklyn, 
N. Y., was a man who believed in the promises with all 
his heart, and acted upon his faith. His business career 
was one of the most remarkable on record, and will well 
repay study. 

Mr. Creed was a well-known lumber merchant. He 
was born in 1853. "When his education was completed 
he secured employment in the lumber business. He w T as 
faithful in his service, and when the firm he served re- 
linquished business he succeeded them. He was at that 
time a sceptic. His pious mother grieved over his un- 
belief, but she would not argue with him. " No, John," 
she said, " I will not argue ; but I want you to know 
that there is not a day that I do not pray God to show 
you that his Word is true." 

He conducted his business on the approved methods, 
and when business men came to New York there w r as no 
one more ready than Creed to cement the connection by 
taking them around the city to show them its dissolute 
side. But he did not prosper, and eventually failed. In 
his poverty and distress he was drawn to his mother's 
God and became an earnest Christian. 

He afterward commenced in a small way on his own 
account. He made the third chapter of Proverbs his 
chart, and every transaction was made the subject of 
prayer. Henceforth God was to be the ruling Partner 
in the business, and one tenth, at least, of the proceeds 
was to be set scrupulously aside for his service. 

It was not an easy task that he had undertaken. The 
young dealer without capital had many crises. But each 
one was taken to God in prayer, and he survived them 
all. We have seen a journal in which his difficulties and 
deliverances were recorded. It is full of such triumphs. 
Out of hundreds we select a few : 

On one Monday morning, when three cargoes of lum- 
ber were consigned to him, the market already glutted, 




JOHN S. CREED. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 145 

and no prospect of disposing of them to be seen, he wrote, 
after stating the circumstances, " By the grace of God I 
will hold on and wait his time and way of delivering 
me, for I expect nothing short of complete deliverance." 
A few pages further on is the record of a journey in 
which he was moved to leave the train before it arrived 
at his destination. He found near the spot a lumber yard, 
the proprietors of which were in need, at that particular 
hour, of the very description of lumber he was trying to 
sell. 

Another entry records a crisis in which it was very im- 
portant to his credit that he should make an advance on 
some lumber before he sold it. He saw the importance, 
but he sought no human help, told no one, but simply 
laid the matter before God and went homeward in peace. 
On board the ferry-boat a friend whom he had not seen 
in some weeks accosted him and voluntarily, without any 
hint from Creed, offered him the loan of $5000, which 
was the exact amount needed for the morrow. 

At another time a friend consulted him about a pressing 
need for $300. Creed said he, too, was in urgent want of 
money, about $1500. The consultation terminated, as 
all consultations with Creed were sure to terminate, not 
in application to a bank or a money-lender, but in prayer. 
Together they knelt in Creed's oftice in Water Street and 
laid their need before the Lord, and then went their way 
at rest, feeling sure that God would see to it. The very 
next day a lawyer called and informed Creed that one of 
his debtors was anxious, for reasons of his own, to settle 
a claim that Creed had long regarded as a bad debt. He 
paid down $2000, and the $1800 for which the two 
friends had asked the Lord was thus provided on time. 

Shortly afterward Mr. Creed needed §800 for a business 
purpose. As usual, he went to God about it. The next 
day the friend to whom he had lent the §300 before 
mentioned came in and said : " John, I have brought 
you that $300 you loaned me. Are you in any special 
need of money ? if so I have $500 more that 1 shall not 
want for a month ; you are welcome .to it, if it will be 
of any service." Thus again the need was supplied. 



146 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

THE HISTORY OF $410. 

He had a large Bible-class in the Sunday-school, com- 
posed of grown men collected from the neighborhood. 
It increased in number, until better accommodation was 
necessary. He applied to the governing body of the 
church for permission to erect a gallery. It would cost 
8400. but Mr. Creed, with his customary "audacity,'" 
assured them that God would provide the money. They 
thought, however, that it would be prudent to postpone 
the work until the money was in hand. To John Creed's 
mind the money was as good as in hand then, for there 
was no doubt with him that God would send it. He was 
a little hurt that his friends would not trust God for the 
sum. He and a friend thereupon agreed to become re- 
sponsible for the $400, trusting that God would so help 
them in business that they would be able to meet this 
extra obligation. They met in New York and prayed 
about it. 

An hour or two later one of Mr. Creed's business rivals 
came in with a request that he would help him in a dif- 
ficulty. He was overstocked, and would be glad if Mr. 
Creed would take a cargo of lumber off his hands. He 
would sell it below market price. It was contrary to his 
usual practice to buy lumber, as he had, up to that time, 
limited his operations to the broker's business of disposing 
of cargoes consigned to him for sale by Eastern men. But 
perhaps this was the way God was going to supply the 
needed money. Creed bought it, and sold it at a price 
which left him a profit equal to his share of the cost of 
the gallery. A little later his friend came to him with a 
similar story of an operation outside his ordinary business 
which had yielded to him, too, his share. The money 
was put together and amounted to $410. " It is all the 
Lord's money," said Creed ; " what shall we do with the 
surplus $10 ?' Let us give it to the Lord ;" and it was 
sent to one of God's faithful servants, Rev. D. M. Hey- 
drick, a well-known worker in Brooklyn, who has a large 
family of God's children, whose wants God enables him 
to supply. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 147 

It is a remarkable fact that this Christian worker in 
question was, at the moment he received the $10, in 
urgent need of that exact amount, which had to be paid 
that day to relieve a family in sore distress. He had 
said no word to any man on the subject, but when the 
demand came unexpectedly upon him he had looked to 
his pocket-book, had found it empty, but feeling sure 
that God would provide it, had promised to pay it. Mr. 
Creed's check for the surplus $10, which the Lord had 
sent over and above what had been asked for, thus found 
its way to the place where the Lord's servant was quietly 
waiting to receive it. 

" A curious coincidence if true !" It is quite true — 
an actual fact vouched for by the writer, who knows the 
persons and circumstances, and there is nothing curious 
about it. Is it surprising that God Almighty keeps his 
promise ? " Call upon me in the day of trouble : I will 
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Ps. 50 : 15). 

Mr. Creed's life was full of such interpositions, lie 
expected them, he counted upon them, planted his feet 
firmly on the promise, and quietly waited for the salva- 
tion. His business grew rapidly. People wondered, 
but it was not a mystery to Mr. Creed. To all he told 
the same story : " The Lord hath helped me.' ' Shippers 
down East who sent him lumber to sell for them were 
astounded to receive his letters. A business communica- 
tion which attributed the sale of a cargo to the goodness 
of God was a novelty to them ; but they were very glad 
that Creed's check for the proceeds was so large, and 
were content that he should give the glory to God, if he 
wanted to. 



On one occasion H. & S., of Carleton, consigned to him 
a cargo of lumber per Clara Jane. 

Mr. Creed wrote to the shipper that the market was 
very dull and he had a large stock on hand, but he would 
do his best to sell it, and furthermore that he would ask 
God's help to sell that cargo. 

He received the following letter : 



148 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

Carleton, March 31, 1882. 
John S. Creed, Esq. 

Dear Sir : Yours of the 28th inst. received, and we 
note contents. We trust the Clara Jane cargo is sold at 
a good price by this time, but our faith in man's energy and 
judgment is stronger than in any divine interference in 
'matters of dollars and cents. We have to-day cleared 
schooner Flash with cargo principally 3 and 4x14. We 
have drawn on you to-day at ten days' sight for $2000, 
which please honor. 

Yours truly, 

II. & S. 

The day after Mr. Creed wrote the first letter he wrote 
a second, informing II. & S. that he had sold the cargo 
of the Clara Jane at a good price. 

He supplemented that note by the following letter : 

April 3d, 1882. 

Messrs. II & S. 

Gentlemen : Yours, 31st ulto., at hand acknowledg- 
ing mine of 28th, but when you receive mine of 29th 
perhaps your views concerning divine interference in 
matters of dollars and cents may be changed a little ; at 
least I hope so ; for if we profit not by the plain facts 
we shall answer for it hereafter. I can't blame you much 
for not having much faith in such things, as there is very 
little of such doctrine preached and far less of it prac- 
tised, but, thank God, there are a few who heUeve him 
fully. When I turned from the world to serve the living 
God I determined to prove his Word to be as true in 
this present time as it ever has been in ages past ?> and it 
is either true in that respect or else its promises are 
utterly meaningless. 1 was perfectly aware of _ the scorn 
and persecution such a course of life would bring about, 
particularly when carried into every-day business life, and 
1 have not been disappointed, but have had to take it 
right and left, and principally from those who prof ess to 
have a form of godliness, but " deny the power thereof. 
Your Royal Arcanum cargo is sold to one of the best 



GOD IK BUSINESS. 149 

concerns in these three cities at $18 per M. I have been 
trying to sell it to tin's same party at that price for ten 
days, but could not succeed. They finally said they 
would not take it at all. To-day they took it. It seems 
a wonder to my natural eyes because this partyjias bought 
of C, T. & Co. at $16 to $16.50, but 1 asked more, ^ex- 
pected more, and received more, and go on my way re- 
joicing and praising God. 

Your draft for $2000 at ten days' sight will be duly 
honored on presentation. 

Very truly yours, 

John S. Creed. 



Mr. Creed writes to a friend : 

New York, January 27, 1881. 
Thomas Kane, Esq, 

Dear Sir : As a business man I can add a little testi- 
mony to the glory of the Father. 1 was once a sceptic, 
and through financial embarrassment was brought to see 
there was truly something besides this world to live for, 
and so cried unto God for mercy and pardon, and then 
for his blessing upon me in business. This he granted 
and prosperity came. Soon, however, came coldness and 
indifference in Christian work, for I sadly omitted to 
consecrate a very important part of myself — namely, my 
possessions, to his glory. Instead of using one tenth or 
more for that purpose, it went for treating business men 
and in other questionable ways. As God is not mocked 
he certainly was not to be by me, and shortly 1 was 
placed in a threefold worse financial strait than before, 
occasioned by two or three of my best friends failing. 
They were indebted to me largely. Now I was lower 
than before. 

On reviewing my past life I noticed that the most of 
my " professed Christian" experience had been spent in 
trying to serve God and Mammon. I determined now 
to make a full consecration of myself and all that I pos- 
sessed or ever would possess to be used for God's glory. 



15U GOD IX BUSINESS. 

This was in December, 1876, and I felt now something 
like a Christian. I believed my heavenly Father ac- 
cepted all, and would use nie for his glory if I was only 
willing to he so used. 

I was not prospered so quickly this time, but tried to 
see if I would prove faithful. Darkness and adversity 
followed me, but by his grace I was kept faithful and 
rejoicing amid a heavy load of debt which was hanging 
over me. Oh, how dark it was to the natural eye, but 
to the eye of faith light. I was now living the Christian 
life (not merely professional only as before). Nothing- 
seemed just to me but to pay one hundred cents on the 
dollar. I wrote and told my creditors that 1 believed 
the God whom I trusted would yet enable me to do it. 

But my affairs kept growing worse. 

Finally my credit got so low that I was obliged to take 
a partner. 

It soon appeared as though I was no more than a clerk 
or salesman. No doubt my partner concluded he could 
get along without me and have all the profits. Reason- 
ably he could so conclude, because he had all the capital 
and credit while I had neither, and besides, 1 was getting 
in debt to him. 

As I waited upon God in constant prayer for wisdom 
and guidance, he seemed to say', " You must dissolve the 
partnership and go alone. I will he with thee.'''' How 
could I, being already in debt to my partner and with 
nothing with which to pay him or to start in business for 
myself. No concern would take me at the salary that I 
must have in order to meet the large expenses which 
were pressing upon me in addition to the great load of 
debt. So I prayed, " O God, if it is thy will that I 
shall this day dissolve with my partner, speak to me 
through thy Word and let it all be done peaceably and 
friendly.'' I put my finger upon an open Testament 
before me on this verse (1 Peter 5:7)," Casting all your 
care upon him for he carethfor you.'' 1 I accepted this 
as the voice of the Lord. 

I faced my partner and made the proposition of disso- 
lution. Wisdom was given me to speak. (It was he 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 151 

that wanted above all things to first make a proposition 
to cut me off.) God prepared the way for me and 
prepared him for it, and all was done peaceably, as I 
asked it should be. He kindly told me he should not 
trouble me about my indebtedness to him, as he believed 
me honest. Of course he was pleased to get rid of me, 
saying now to himself: "The business is all mine, no 
division of profits, etc. Creed having no profit or capital 
can do nothing. The business will continue right along 
in my name as it always has. Nobody will think there 
has been any change." 

I commenced anew in business under the principles set 
forth in Pro v. 3 : 5, 6, and with the mottoes, " Thou 
God seest me," and " My help cometh from the Lord," 
over my desk in my office. Men whom I did business 
with soon saw there was some unknown power helping 
me. In conversation with them 1 could show the hand 
of the ever-living God so plainly that even the most 
sceptical could not gainsay it. Some by God's blessing 
were led to cry unto him for mercy and pardon, and to 
consecrate their all to the Lord not for worldly gain, but 
for his glory and the salvation of men. In doing this 
the inevitable fulfilment of the promises occurred also in 
their experience. 

From that day until the present the everlasting arms 
have been around me, and I have never been so pros- 
pered in business. Like David of old, I am a wonder to 
many ; but it is the Lord's doing and marvellous in our 
eyes. 

A few days ago I received a letter from my most sav- 
age and stern creditor desiring to give me his shipments. 
This very party has denounced me as a religious sneak, 
etc., and said he has no confidence in me, and he knew I 
never intended to pay him when I said I would. 

I wrote him that he could do his worst. I did not 
want his business as long as he had no confidence in me. 
This was in 1879. Only by the grace of God was I led 
to write him such a bold letter. God kept him quiet 
ever since, and now brought him to bow at my feet 
without any solicitation on my part. 



152 fiOD IX BUSINESS. 

By the Lord's blessing this creditor's account has been 
reduced. He has been obliged to eat his own words. 

Now a word in closing about my partner, who had all 
the seen things in his favor. Those who were shipping 
to us then, when I told them of my intention of starting 
alone, replied they could not ship to me as they believed 
I could not succeed, consequently they should continue 
to ship to him. Immediately upon my starting, how- 
ever, these very parties were the first ones to consign me 
large cargoes. Now what power but that of Almighty 
God could change the minds and hearts of these con- 
cerns ? So they continued thereafter. My partner was 
obliged to rent his office to parties in other business, and 
spent most of his time at home. By the Lord's blessing 
in a very short time my indebtedness to him was paid. 
Oh, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits 
toward me ? What am I that he should be so mindful 
of me ? But, dear friends, what are we all ? Nothing 
but receivers of his blessings, which he bestows freely 
upon all, but more especially upon those that honor him. 
Oh, try it ; put him to the test ; first give him your heart. 
Then vow to honor him with the first-fruits of all your 
increase. So shall your barns be filled with plenty, and 
your presses shall burst out with new wine. 

John S. Creed. 




GOD IN BUSINESS. 153 

REV. JUSTIN D. FULTON. 

Extract from a sermon regarding Mr. Creed, delivered by 
Dr. Fulton in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Text. — "Because I live, ye shall live also." — John 14 : 19. 

Prosperity is the dream of youth, the expectation of 
manhood, and the enjoyment or despair of old age. 
How can it be obtained ? Is it the result of luck or of 
well-established principles ? Is it a " happen so" or a 
growth ? Is God. a factor in it, or is every man the 
architect of his own fortunes ? 

What Paul said of the unseen Christ may be said of 
this universally desired boon : " It is nigh thee because 
it is in God." " The issues of life are in his hand." 
" The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole dispensing 
thereof is of the Lord." 

This the life of John S. Creed illustrates. You are 
asked to study it. He was first taught of God by adver- 
sity. He became convinced of the existence of a Superior 
Being, revealed to him through Jesus Christ, as an In- 
finite Father, too wise to err, too good to be unkind. 
His eyes were opened. He saw that he was a sinner, 
lost and undone. Then came the new birth. The old 
gave way to the new. He became a new man in Christ 
Jesus the Lord. Then came instruction in righteousness, 
peace in believing, and joy in the Holy Ghost. This life 
was lived in our midst. Of some of us it was a part. 
It is meet that we should glorify God because of it, and 
recount some of the wonders God hath wrought with 
it. Creed utilized powers in God which millions of 
business men foolishly ignore. It is to call attention to 
this truth, and to illustrate the workings of this God- 
force lying all about us, and yet unworked, that I ask 
you to follow me into the engine-room of this wonderful 
life, and look at the forces placed at the disposal of all. 

Mr. Creed tried to stamp out as best he could the 
theory that we have no right to ask God to interfere in 
our temporal affairs, and held up to the gaze of all, the 
truth that the Infinite, Omnipresent, and Omniscient 
God, that notes the lily's bloom and the sparrow's fall,. 



154 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

is interested in all we are or do, and is ready to minister 
to us in all the minutiae of life, has the plan for us, the 
work for us ; and if we will give him room and obey the 
teachings of his Word, and the promptings of his Spirit, 
the path before us shall grow brighter and brighter unto 
the perfect day. 

There are, then, some propositions, the truth of which 
Creed's life has demonstrated as plainly as any mathe- 
matical problem Euclid proved, which are of immediate, 
practical, and permanent value to all. 

1. That God cares for his own — for those who believe 
in him and trust in him, is a truth substantiated by the 
life of this man of God whose experiences now engage 
our thought. 

He consecrated his office to God. I have prayed there 
over and over again. The place was holy ground. At 
the outset men laughed at him. They did not believe 
that religion could rind any home in business. He did. 
He gave himself up to God. April 8th he parted com- 
pany with his business associate because he wanted in his 
office a place for God. Pie paid $1100 for the privilege 
of enjoying, undisturbed, the society of Jesus Christ. 
How did he get on ? His truthful diary is here. It tells 
us how, after prayer and the reading of the Word — and 
he opened the Bible as did John Wesley, and Whitefield, 
and others, so that God might speak to him — he gave 
himself up to the direction of the Holy Spirit, believing 
that the " secret of the Lord is with those that fear him." 
As a result, God put business into his hands. Shippers 
in New Brunswick and Maine were made to think of 
him. They consigned cargoes to him. He sold them 
on commission, and secured such prices and made such 
speedy returns, that his business increased to such an ex- 
tent that on April 8th, 1880, he wrote : " This is my 
first anniversary of being alone in business. It was dark 
then. But truly, a light has arisen in the darkness. 
The Lord knoweth our need, and yet for this he will be 
inquired of to do it for us." 

He paid his $1100 for the privilege of having the com- 
panionship of his Saviour, and in six years paid $30,000 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 155 

of debts, gave away large sums of money to support evan- 
gelists to help on God's cause at home and. abroad, and 
died, leaving wife and children beyond the reach of want, 
having made such a record in the business world that at 
the bank his paper was freely discounted, and when the 
recent panic came he was enabled to go on, because 
those who knew him best said, " We know in whom you 
trust." 

How was this care exercised ? Open to May 17th. 
" More blessing to-day. Two more consignments re- 
ceived. I have six cargoes unsold, and as the market is 
getting more in it, I pray my Dear Heavenly Father (lie 
writes Dear with a big D) to direct me where to sell 
what I have, and I know he will. Oh, how blessed to 
have One to go to in time of need, and to feel assured of 
being helped. Oh, may I feel my utter weakness more 
and more, and my entire confidence in him, for who so 
trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. Mercy shall compass 
him about !" This is at night. The six cargoes are 
unsold. Look on him on the morrow. Another cargo 
comes. " Oh, how good God is !" Seven now unsold. 
He asks for guidance. " I prayed the Lord to direct me 
where to go." He went where he had not sold any for 
a long time, praying as he went. One of the partners 
opposed buying, but God triumphed, and he came off 
conqueror through him that loved him. 

A gentleman writes rebuking him for quoting Scrip- 
ture. He confesses that he depends on God for help, 
and will not go back on his Helper — no more than would 
a partner in business ignore his associate. The letter 
blesses him and he comes off victor. 

Time and again money is needed, and in answer to 
prayer, men that owe him send it to him. 

On one occasion he has paper. The bank refuses 
to discount it. He takes it to God. in prayer and is told 
to go and see the man. He does so. The man pays it 
and he is free, and yet the man says while doing it, "I 
know not why I am doing this." Creed replies, " I do. 
I asked God that you might, and he has heard me. The 
glory belongs to God." 



15G GOD IN BUSINESS. 

May 19th, 1880, riding on the elevated road, lie is told 
or impressed to stop at Houston Street. Does so. Sells 
a cargo. Again starts to go to a place ; the impression 
comes to take the Belt road. He does so. Opens his 
Bible, rides to a point where there are lumber yards, 
alights, and goes to a place where he has never done 
business, sells his cargoes and goes back shouting praise 
to God. 

Some days he is sent back to men who refused him 
the day before, finds things changed and succeeds. 
" Truly this is surprising," he writes, " but it is the 
Lord's doing, and man must bow in submission to his 
control." 

GOD TAKES CARE OF BANK TAPEK. 

May 31st. " 1 am now waiting on the Lord for money 
to meet obligations promptly." He needs $4000 on the 
morrow, and is looking to the Lord for it. June 1st. 
" Keceived enough cash and discounts to send the $4000 
to-night, with but little left." Had a note which he 
wished discounted, but it was thrown out. He says, " I 
left it and committed it to the hands of the One who 
was able to change the directors' minds, and as I need it 
I believe he will." June 2d. " Praise the Lord. While 
1 was testifying of his goodness before unbelieving busi- 
ness men God was controlling the bank directors, and 
they discounted the $1870 note. Oh, where shall I find 
words to praise him enough V 

And still another cargo advised through the mail. 
" Give, and it shall be given you, shaken together, 
pressed down, and running over shall men give into your 
bosom." " The prospect of my business is brighter and 
brighter every day," he writes, June 5th. " Who but 
the Lord could do such wondrous things, and how can I 
praise him enough? Oh, may I be a faithful steward 
over all that he gives me !" 

He practises what he believes, and gives as God 
commands him, and as opportunity occurs, whether he is 
able or not. God supplies his needs, and he trusts him 
fearlesslv. 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 157 

In receiving this care of God, lie accepts the instruc- 
tions of God's Word as final. lie does not question. 
When Goil speaks, that settles it. lie does not send a 
telegram, because on opening the Word God bids him 
" tarry." He receives impressions. All understand 
what they are. All have had impressions, and they have 
said afterward, "If I had followed them it would have 
been well." lie followed them. 

God told Abraham to " Get out of thy country, and 
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a 
land that I will show thee." And he departed as the 
Lord had spoken unto him ; and because he believed in- 
God and obeyed him, he is called the Father of the Faith- 
ful. Creed believed that God held infinite control of 
men, of mind, of weather, and of everything, and dared 
follow where God led, saying, 

" "I know not what awaits me ; 
God kindly veils my eyes." 

In the enjoyment of this faith there came duties, and 
he performed them. In season and out of season, on the 
ferry-boat, in the car, in business places, and in the 
office, he sought first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness, and all things were added unto him. 

2. He believed in God's management of affairs. He 
had as rivals in business men of brain, of capital, and 
skill. We are not speaking against them, nor censuring 
their ways. All we wish to say is, hero is a man that 
does not treat shippers to liquors and cigars, nor take 
them to theatres and places of amusement. He does 
their business promptly, praises his God in every letter 
as his strong and mighty Helper, and permits God to 
manage for him. 

He writes, June 12th, 1880 : " When I see the strong 
rivals I have in business, with large capital, and then 
remember the help I have in God, my heart is filled with 
praise for the manner in which he takes care of me. It 
matters not w T ho is against me. May God give me grace 
to keep humble, and as he intrusts me with much, to 
make me a faithful steward over all he gives me." 



158 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

June 23d. " Encouraging letters received from ship- 
pers. By God's blessing, was enabled to sell two cargoes 
to-day at better prices than my rival, who is trying hard 
to secure one of my shippers. It did look dark and 
appeared that I would have to sacrifice these two last : 
but I was not left alone, but delivered, that I might give 
glory to his name, who went before me and so caused 
me to triumph." 

The bigger price secured consignments. God's help 
secured big dividends. 

June 25th. " Ten cargoes — over one million feet — in a 
week." "Who but God," he writes, "could cause 
such an overflow of temporal blessing?" " Received a 
letter from the shipper that my neighbor was trying to 
get. He praises me for doing well. How God brings 
things all around right by leaving it all with him. Oh, 
may I be kept from envy, and kept trusting him day by 
day, and he will provide." 

Sunday comes. He attends church, teaches in Sahbath- 
school, and goes out to distribute tracts among his neigh- 
bors. " May the good Lord bless them for the purpose 
for which they are given." 

June 28th. " Still blessings continue to flow. Oh, 
may I have wisdom to handle all intrusted to my care 
with discretion and profit to the shipper ; and I know 
he who causes them to be sent will give me deliverance 
in them all if I only trust him.' 1 This is the secret of 
success. Attend well to this end of the line. Do your 
business well, and God's blessing is secure. 

July 1st. " Am working early and late and am pretty 
well overcome with the heat, but I look up to him who 
is able to keep me amid all this rush of business, and 
I know he will." 

He was alone in business and yet not alone. Whoever 
entered his office was compelled to recognize the presence 
of that Being who comforted the wise men in the furnace 
and protected Daniel among the lions. Shippers, bank- 
ers, business men were compelled to recognize the fact 
that God was his silent partner. In conversation Creed 
was bold to hold up Christ as the medial power, and 



GOD IN" BUSINESS. 159 

so plainly could he reveal the aid rendered that infidels 
could not gainsay it, and some who came to mock were 
compelled to praise and to consecrate their all to the 
glory of him who became their deliverance. In doing 
God's will, not for doing it, but in doing it, the inevitable 
fulfilment of promises occurred in their experience. 

HIS JOY WAS GREAT. 

He writes, January 21st, 1881, in the midst of mar- 
vellous prosperity : " What comfort there is in knowing 
that the great Jehovah interests himself with all the 
affairs of his children." Could business men be brought 
to know this, millions more would turn to Christ. 
Would that they knew the fulness of that little word, 
"Trust." 

Reports are circulated against him. He is called a 
fanatic and a fool. His proclamation of faith in God and 
of the principles that ruled him in business drew down 
upon him ridicule and obloquy. But the more they 
opposed him, the more trade came to him. 

Hear him April 8th, 1880 : " This is my anniversary 
of being alone in business. Truly a light has risen in 
darkness, and to-night we hold a meeting for praise." 
What a blessed life the life of faith is — not knowing 
what the future will bring, but living day by day, confi- 
dent that every want shall be supplied ! 

" Thou art coming to a King, 
Large petitions with thee bring ; 
For His grace and power arc such, 
None can ever ask too much !" 

THE RESULT GLORIFIES GOD. 

In 1879 he did a business of $124,000 

In 1880 " " " 270,000 

In 1881 " " " 275,000 

In 1882 " " " 500,000 

In 1883 " " " 565.000 

In 1884 " " " 479,000 

No wonder he writes : " What shall I render unto my 
God for all his benefits toward me ?" 

3. God helps us that we may help others. The world- 



160 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

ling says : " God helps those who help themselves." 
Napoleon declared that God was always on the side of 
the heaviest battalions, and learned the folly of the utter- 
ance at Waterloo. Creed believed that God helped him 
that he might help others. God made him his distrib- 
uting agent. It was his faith that when God saw him 
willing to make great sacrifices, he gave to him more 
readily. Hence at times it seemed as if his heart would 
break with gratitude. His life closed more like an ascen- 
sion than a dissolution. He died in his prime, his eye 
not dim, and his natural force not abated. Like Enoch, 
he walked with God, and was not — for God took him. 
His life will live, because he illustrated a practical faith 
in God, and proves that it is possible for God to put con- 
fidence in the faithful and the true. 

On the close of the year 1881 he raised the wages of 
his employes, gave gifts to all, and rode into 1885 as a 
prince. It was his jubilee year. He seemed to be loosen- 
ing in many ways from earth. On February 19th, 1885, 
is his last utterance in his diary. At the top of the page 
is, " Praise ye the Lord. Jubilee. Fiftieth day of the 
year. Accomplishing all that I have been looking for- 
ward to, and hastening toward the goal ; which is all of 
God, who is all and in all. The kingdom is delivered 
up. Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Amen." 




GOD IN BUSINESS. 161 



WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS. 

What a friend we have in Jesus, 

All our sins and griefs to bear ; 
What a privilege to carry 

Everything to God in prayer. 
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, 

Oh, what needless pain we bear — 
All because we do not carry 

Everything to God in prayer. 

Have we trials and temptations ? 

Is there trouble anywhere ? 
We should never be discouraged, 

Take it to the Lord in prayer. 
Can we find a friend so faithful, 

Who will all our sorrows share ? 
Jesus knows our every weakness, 

Take it to the Lord in prayer. 

Are we weak and heavy laden, 

Cumbered with a load of care ? 
Precious Saviour, still our refuge, 

Take it to the Lord in prayer. 
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee ? 

Take it to the Lord in prayer ; 
In his arms he'll take and shield thee, 

Thou wilt find a solace there. 



GO I, IN BUSINESS. 



Oh, worldly men and women, there is around you i 
mighty, gracious, beneficent Power : 

A Power that will aid you when energy fails. 
A Power that will help you when ability fails. 
A Power that will guide you when wisdom fails. 
A Power that will carry you when health fails. 
A Power that will welcome you when life fails. 

JESUS. ■ 

May this record of his goodness lead thee to repent- 
ance. 



GOI) IX BUSINESS. 163 



GOD'S SHAEE. 

If God helps it is only fair that he should receive his 
share. What is his share ? 

It is not left to conjecture. From the brow of Mount 
Sinai came the command : 

" The tenth shall le holy unto the Lord." 

That law has never been repealed. 

Christ said, " Think not that I am come to destroy 
the law. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." In 
reference to this very command he said : " Ye give 
tithes of mint and rue. This ought ye to have done." 

Paul said, " Give as God hath prospered you." 

This is not an abrogation of the law. 

It is a reference to the law. 

We cannot be wrong in following a rule which God 
commanded, Christ confirmed, and Paul repeated. 

Some say that we should give everything to God. The 
principle is right, but when the matter is left in this 
vague, indefinite shape we frequently give nothing at all. 

It is better to give the tenth and give it, than to give 
all and give nothing. 

Every Christian business man should open an account 
with God. Not that his share should be limited to the 
tenth, but that it may not fall below it. 

This should be the minimum proportion. If we will 
obey this command as it is written, we will certainly re- 
ceive such overwhelming proof of God's love and care 
that our consciences can be safely trusted to prompt us 
regarding additional gifts. 



1G4 GOD IN BUSINESS. 

BIBLE WORDS ON THE MONEY QUESTION. 

BY PASTOR CHARLES A. COOK, TORONTO, ONT. 

" I never thought the Bible had so much to say about 
money," exclaimed a well-to-do farmer once at the close 
of a Bible-reading on the subject which the writer gave 
in a country district, where he was holding some special 
services. There is more said in the Bible on the money 
question than is generally known. Indeed, this very 
ignorance of what the Bible does say accounts for nine 
tenths of all the stinginess that exists among Christian 
people, and for the same proportion of all the difficulties 
and worries and wrong practices that have arisen in the 
Church in connection with the raising of money for the 
Lord's work. 

Nothing enters into the currents of a man's life more 
than the money element. Every man needs money. 
Every man, with a greater or less degree of earnestness, 
and with motives as various almost as are the ways of 
making money, is engaged in running the race after 
wealth. And inasmuch as the Bible contains full in- 
structions regarding all matters that affect human happi- 
ness, it should not be a matter of surprise that it has a 
good deal to say about money. It tells us how men 
make money and how they lose it, how they are cursed 
by it and how they are blessed, and gives such valuable 
instruction on all these and other phases of the money 
question, that no man can afford to be indifferent to its 
testimony. Let us see what some of its words are : 

BIBLE WORDS ON GETTING- MONEY. 

When men amass a little money, they are accustomed 
to credit their own ability and skill and wisdom with the 
success that has attended them in their money getting. 
The Bible places the credit somewhere else. This is 
what it says, " But thou shalt remember the Lord thy 
God ; for it is he that giveththee power to get wealth.'' 
Men forget that God gives them power to get wealth. 
Nebuchadnezzar forgot it, and had to pay pretty dear for 
his forgetf ulness. Who gives the farmer the soil, the 



GOD IN BUSINESS. 165 

rain, the sunshine, the health and strength to do his 
work ? Who gives the mechanic his skill, the profes- 
sional man his intellectual ability, or the merchant his 
business tact and success ? The Bible says God. Money, 
then, is God's gift. What a debt some men owe to God ! 
Some men are ever receiving, but give nothing back. 
They get, but do not give. 

BIBLE WORDS ON THE TRUE CHARACTER OF MATERIAL 
RICHES. 

Is money such a valuable thing, after all, or is its pos- 
session so very essential to human happiness % The Bible 
says it is not satisfying. " He that loveth silver shall 
not be satisfied with silver ; nor he that loveth abundance 
with increase." No man, in ancient days at any rate, 
was as rich as Solomon, and after telling of all that he 
secured through the possession of riches he says, " and, 
behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there 
was no profit under the sun.''' Kead the preceding 
verses also. When have you ever met a man, however 
rich, who was satisfied with money and money getting ? 
Men get satisfaction not out of getting money so much 
as through giving it. 

The Bible says also that riches are uncertain. " Labor 
not to be rich, . . . for riches certainly make themselves 
wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." In 
how many ways do riches take wings and fly away ? They 
go on the wings of sickness, business reverses, fire, specu- 
lation, thieves, floods, shipwrecks, and a score of other 
ways. How uncertain, then, their position for a single 
day ! They must all be left at last. " For we brought 
nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry 
nothing out." 

BIBLE WORDS ABOUT THE USE OF MONEY. 

Because of what is stated above are we to despise 
riches, and pauperize ourselves and shut ourselves off 
from all good opportunities for making money ? What 
does the Bible say about it ? It says, " Set not your heart 
upon riches when they increase." No man is forbidden 



16G GOD IN BUSINESS. 

to make money, but men are taught continually what to 
do with the money they do make. 

The Bible teaches that those who have money should 
devote it to the service of God. God gives men power to 
get wealth, and they are to seek his glory in all their 
money getting. This will turn places of business into 
sanctuaries, as every place of business where the head is 
a Christian ought to be. Mark the words, " Honor the 
Lord with thy substance," with what you have on hand, 
and then ever afterward with " the first-fruits of all 
thine increase." How many give no more to God's 
cause after their income is doubled, or even trebled, than 
they did before ! They keep to the miserable paltry dol- 
lar standard, though they could give $20 now as easily as 
they used to give one. Honor God with the increase. 

And then also the Bible teaches that ten per cent of 
the money that comes into our possession is his, and that 
the man who withholds that portion is robbing God. 
This is the most searching word the Bible has to say on 
the money question, and should not be lightly passed 
over by any man who claims to be redeemed by the pre- 
cious blood of Christ. " And all the tithe of " the land, 
whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruits of the 
tree, is the Lord's." 

Dear reader, are you using the money that has come 
into your possession according to the teaching of God's 
Word ? Are you honoring God with it by presenting 
to him not less than one tenth of all your income ? If 
not, prove God herewith and see if he will not be as good 
as his Word in Proverbs 3 : 9, 10, and Malachi 3 : 10.— 
The Faithful Witness. 



FIRST-FRUITS FOR GOD. 

BY I. W. COCHRAN. 

First-fruits for God — of corn and vine ; 
Of tree or bush ; of sheep or kine ; 
Of all that men call mine and thine — 
The first and best for God ! 

First-fruits for God — of daily toil ; 
What hands have gathered from the soil, 
Or brains have wrought by midnight oil — 
The first mid best for God ! 

First-frxiits for God — from stores and trade, 
From ships and railroads lending aid, 
From all that factories have made — 
The first and best for God ! 

First-fruits for God — from all our ways ; 
The first-day Sabbath for his praise ; 
The morn of life and morn of days — 
The first and best for God ! 

First-fruits for God— he gives us all : 
The sun to shine, the rain to fall ; 
He safely guides this rolling ball — 
The first and best for God! 




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